


Ghost Amidst Thieves

by Crow_The_Wicked



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Confidants happens off screen, F/M, Jester Arcana, New Post-Game Boss, OC has a new ability, Persona 5: The Royal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 64,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24664834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crow_The_Wicked/pseuds/Crow_The_Wicked
Summary: Kyotaro Watanabe is seen as a 'pest' by his peers, someone they wish would just fade away. However, things change when the new 'delinquent' transfer student arrives to their little prison known as Shujin. *P5R*
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	1. The Trickster's Capture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyotaro Watanabe is seen as a 'pest' by his peers, someone they wish would just fade away. However, things change when the new 'delinquent' transfer student arrives to their little prison known as Shujin. *P5R*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story contains some big spoilers for Persona 5: The Royal in the first chapter
> 
> Turn back now if you aren’t aware of the new plot beats to the story
> 
> The following story is a work of fiction that is not meant to represent anything that can be perceived as offensive or harmful
> 
> It is also written by an American who is not informed on every aspect of Japanese culture so please be open-minded when there are elements that involuntarily contradict the norms of Japan
> 
> All rights are reserved to their rightful owners
> 
> All OC's presented are all the author owns in this story
> 
> Thank you

_The contract has been sealed…_

_Yet there is another piece in this game, this is an odd situation to be sure as he shares similarities to the main player. Yet he seems to be quite inferior to our trickster’s capabilities while also having a powerful ability of his own, how amusing…_

_Not only that… There are some slight changes to our board, two pieces that are arranged differently from where they should be. The board itself seems to be different, larger and more bizarre than its previous state. Very well then, let us continue this variant of our game._

_And let us see if these tricksters will rise from the abyss of distortion._

* * *

**Day:?**

**Date:?**

**Time:?**

**Location:?**

**Threat Level 100!**

* * *

The sounds of sirens blaring radiated out of the casino, waves of shocked patrons rushed out the building as they looked up to try and find what the cause was of this outburst. Security guards pushed past the customers to get their eyes on what was ruining their establishment, or that is to say… _who_. 

A young man in a long black coat, red gloves, and a predominantly white domino mask with black accents around the eyes– it resembled much like a bird with how it was shaped. He looked upon the frustrated guards with a smirk on his face as he held a metal suitcase in his arms with the moon behind him as he stood upon one of the lights of the casino, its blue radiance lighting his hair with a slight glow. 

“He’s here, move in now!” 

And with that, he was off. The black-coated figure began jumping from the platforms from above that casted light on to the casino, his smile still not fading away as they rushed to cut him off upstairs. 

_“Good! Get running, Joker!”_ Mona demanded of the Phantom Thief as he ran onto the middle chandelier.

 _"This is our only chance!"_ Crow reminded the leader of the Phantom Thieves with a tense voice.

 _“Stay calm, you can get away now!”_ Oracle cheered.

 _“We’ll retrieve the briefcase on our end,”_ Queen informed their leader in a stoic tone.

 _“Maybe I should have been the one out there, probably could have gotten that crowd and more of those guards riled up.”_ Another member of the Phantom Thieves could be heard rubbing the back of his head as he said that.

“I think you would be more focused on getting their attention rather than staying safe, Ghost…” Joker laughed as he continued to run across the chandeliers.

_“Well, at least I could do it…”_

_“I don’t think Skull can say the same thing.”_ Panther laughed, said Skull groaned at her mention of his name.

 _“That’s because you have no sense of aesthetics.”_ Fox sighed with a very distinct contempt for his team mate's lack of 'flair'.

 _“Nobody asked you Inari and why am I always getting picked on?”_ Skull sighed as Joker leapt onto another light above the casino.

_" 'cuz you're an easy target…"_

_"Shuddup, Ghost!"_

_“But seriously, are… are you gonna be okay Joker?”_ The newest member of the Phantom Thieves asked, her voice audibly shaking at their leader’s dangerous role for this mission.

“I’ll be fine, Violet. Don’t worry your pretty little head, alright?”

 _“O-okay…”_ She could be heard trying to stifle a love-sick giggle, bleh… 

_“Are you two seriously flirting on a life-threatening mission?”_ Ghost judged the two over the intercom, getting a muffled apology from Violet and scoff from Joker.

“Haven’t you done worse?” Joker quipped as he jumped onto the balcony of the casino, the sound of Ghost clicking his tongue in annoyance could be heard over the intercom as he did so.

 _“Ok, while the enemies are focused on him. The rest of us can sneak away…”_ Mona mused to the team. 

_“Does everyone know where we’re meeting up?”_ Noir asked over communications, their navigator answering with no anxiety to be had in her voice.

 _“No worries, I can guide you all.”_ The Phantom Thief smiled, he had no worry that this was going to go south. 

He jumped onto the balcony of the casino where two men in suits blocked the stairway, their bodies began convulsing before transforming into masked creatures with golden eyes and hunched forward. He turned around to see that another one of them had dropped down from the ceiling, looking ready for a fight.

 _“Take them down Joker!”_ Panther cheered as Joker leapt onto the creature behind him, his fingers gripped tightly onto the ends of its mask before ripping it off with a commanding shout.

"Show me your true form!"

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The rest of the team were running down a long dark hallway, trying desperately to find a way out of here. Ghost turned to their orange-headed navigator who was currently looking over a map of the place, “Oracle, how far away is that exit?” 

“Uh, got it! We’re heading towards a fork in the road and one of them should lead us out of here,” The group stopped at a pair of doors standing side by side, they looked to their navigator for the right direction. “Let’s see, it should be…”

“End of the line thieves!” They turned their heads to see several shadows gunning for them. Without a thought, Ghost pulled out his twin M9 berettas and began laying down fire. Stalling the shadows as long as he could. 

“Oracle, door! Now!” He demanded with a voice that could kill, their navigator pulled up her screen and quickly found their destination at his command. 

“Left! Head left!” 

The thieves pushed past the door with Ghost holding his fire as he backpedaled past the frame of the door. As soon as he went through, Skull quickly grabbed a metal rod in the corner of the room and slid it between the door’s handles. Keeping the shadows from entering for a little bit. 

“Everyone, stick to the shadows…” Crow hissed out as he cloaked himself behind a large crate, the others already in their hiding positions. Ghost’s eyes turned to Oracle who looked over to the door on the left of the corridor‒ so that's where they needed to go...

Ghost looked over to one of the doors on the other side of the room, an idea bounced into his brain. He hopped over to the door that went straight into the next room across and proceeded to kick it down with a great force, he announced with great volume. 

“Come on guys! Let’s go before they break it down!” He made his way back to his hiding spot where he waited for eight shadows to burst into the room with the rod slipping out.

“They’re on the move, go now!” Ghost rubbed his nose with his thumb and smirked as they sprinted out the room, the team moved out of their positions after a few seconds had passed.

“Nice thinking, Ghost.” Mona congratulated the teen with a small smile, the rest of the team sharing similar sentiments. 

“Oh well, _thank you very much!_ ” He gave an over-exaggerated bow at the attention, the thieves groaning at his joke theatrics. 

He quickly composed himself before speaking to the group, “In all seriousness, let’s get out of here before more of those guys get on our asses.”

“Yeah... and Oracle?” Violet looked over to the shorter girl, “How’s Joker doing?” 

“Oh…” The navigator brought up the screen and showed it to the group, smiling as Joker finished up the Moloch shadow. “He’s doing just fine.”

 _“Good. You defeated them with ease.”_ Mona congratulated Joker as he holstered his knife and adjusted his gloves. But as he turned to see that more shadows had appeared around him. 

_“More of them?_ _Be careful!”_ A shadow lunged forward to attack Joker however he avoided it with a swift backflip and leaped to a higher platform behind him. “Joker! Behind you, go through that door!” 

He turned around at Oracle’s request to see that there was, in fact, a door behind him, Joker hopped onto the higher floor and rushed through the dark corridor. “Have you guys escaped yet?”

“Close, don’t worry about us. You’re the ones with enemies on your ass…” Ghost whispered into his earpiece as he led the team past the enemies while they stuck to the shadows. They made their way to a door, where Ghost peeked through the crack to see one singular shadow guarding the room where the window out of here was. 

“Tch, We got away from those guys in black but there’s still loads of them!” Skull complained from behind.

“Well, we don’t have to worry about that because I see the exit.” Ghost informed, but before they could feel relief he also added. “However, there’s a shadow in the room. No way sneaking past it.” 

“I suppose there’s no other way out, we’ll have to fight.” Crow mused with his fingers on his chin. 

“Well, let’s figure this out before we‒ Ghost is gone!” Violet reeled back in surprise seeing the thief who was right in front of them had just disappeared without a warning while the other thieves just sighed in exasperation. 

“Show your face for the folks at home!” Ghost’s voice called out and the sound of a mask being torn could be heard from behind the door. They rushed into the room to see him backflip away from a body that burst into streams of black and red that then proceeded to take shape once again. 

“Let’s help him before the idiot gets himself killed…” Queen shook her head as Ghost pulled out his machete, preparing for the shadow’s true identity to be revealed.

A Ganesha, who was looking quite pissed at Ghost. The Thieves formed a wall around the shadow as the "rogue" of the group was directly in front of it.

“Physical attacks are weak on this enemy,” Ghost nodded at Oracle’s words and did as his teammates were doing‒ pulling out their ranged weapons. “Blast ‘em away, guys!”

The elephant-like creature was sprayed with bullets from the nine of them while Oracle hid in the background, it made a break for Ghost in a desperate attempt as its body began to bleed black liquid. It's target began backing up with twin pistols still laying down fire, expecting it to die before it could reach him but the thing was resilient! 

“Robin Hood!” The Ganesha exploded once a large ray of light struck it, leaving Ghost unharmed. The thief blinked twice and turned around to see Crow with his hand on his mask, the detective flashing the off-guard Ghost a smile. 

“I believe you owe me one…”

“ _Yeah, right._ ” He rubbed the back of his head with a shrug, “That thing was gonna die before it could touch me.”

“Whatever you say,” Crow said, his smile still on his face as he made his way to join with the others out on the roof. 

Ghost gave a hefty sigh as he made his way to the window, where Skull and Fox helped him up by the arm.

“Alright, now with that done… How’s the big guy holding‒ OW! What the hell, Queen?!” He was cut off when Queen firmly swiped against the back of his head with her palm. 

“That’s for jumping the gun like always, but how _is_ Joker?” She asked Oracle, Ghost stared daggers behind her for a moment before quickly pulling away with a purse of his lips and a slight tinge of red on his face. The Navigator pulled up her screen and showed it off to the rest of the thieves.

“Hm, it looks like he’s almost home free…” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Joker looked over the balcony to see several guards on the bottom floor, his eyes scanned for a place where he could exit but to no avail. 

_“Something wrong? The exit should be up ahead.”_

“Through there?” He looked over to the large stained glass window across the large room, not exactly the most convenient of exits. But it might be the most stylish if he did this right!

 _“Ngh… That’s just how it is.”_ Oracle audibly flinched, _“After the commotion, the bottom floor is‒”_

 _“‒Completely closed off!”_ Queen finished that sentence for Oracle, shocked to see how many of them were around Joker. _“Hey, can you make it?”_

Before Joker could say something, the sound of a door being forced open could be heard from the hallway behind him. He turned his head to see several guards with guns in hand quickly march towards him. Once the guards raised their guns, he hopped onto the rails and began running towards the large window. He kneeled down at his stop and looked over to the guards with a smirk. 

“See ya!”

He then proceeded to fling his body out of the building and through the window, much to the chagrin of his teammates.

_“Talk about reckless…”_

_“You can't speak about recklessness, Ghost!”_ Violet, Oracle, Noir, and Panther simultaneously called out Ghost on his hypocrisy, to which he gave a deep sigh as a response. 

_“Yeah, that’s fair…”_

Joker smiled at his teammate’s bantering as he fell from the air with pieces of glass flying past his face. He landed safely with a roll but he wasn’t alone... as spotlights were flashed upon him, the Phantom Thief jerked his head up to see a wave of police in front of him.

_“Enemies here?!”_

_“What’s wrong?!”_

_“These readings!”_

_“An ambush?!”_

_“What happened?!”_

_“Joker, can you handle this?!”_

_“Joker!”_

_“Oh no!”_

_“Please! Get out there!”_

_“Run for it!”_

Once the first wave moved in, Joker quickly scanned for any escape route. His eyes landing on a ladder of a nearby building. It wasn’t much but he needed higher ground, then maybe he could use his grappling hook to get back on the run.

He made a dash for his escape route and began his desperate ascend. But once he was at the apex of the ladder, he noticed the SWAT team above him. Before he could even blink, he was hit with the butt of a rifle. Knocking him back down where several cops tackled him and held him down, where a detective amongst the crowd moved over to the captured thief. 

“Didn’t expect to find some kid. You have your teammate to thank for this,” He grasped Joker by his hair as if to drink up the moment with some amusement. “You were sold out.”

“What?” It was the only thing he could breathe out before handcuffs were tightened onto his wrists, with the surrounding sounds of police calling for ‘the suspect’s arrest.’

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“You think he’s gonna be okay?” Kyotaro asked Morgana nonchalantly, the cat sternly nodded his head in response as his eyes were focused on the scene before them. 

The Phantom Thieves were currently laying low on the roof of the Casino where they saw their friend and leader, Akira Kurusu, being forced into the back of a police van. With several cops surveying the area, giving one last glance of the area for the rest of the thieves before taking the head honcho with them.

“I’m sure, we’ve done all we could for him and the plan,” Morgana said with his arms crossed as he looked upon the scene with feigned stoicism, as given away once Kyotaro noticed how his little legs shook from where he seated himself.

“Damn…” Ryuji gritted through his teeth and the sound of his gloves tightening in his grip could be heard. “This still sucks!”

“Yes,” Yusuke agreed, bringing a hand to his forehead, “It’s disheartening to see our dear friend be captured like this.”

“Let’s just go home…” Makoto said slowly with a large frown formed on her face, she looked over to Kas- Sumire, who looked to be on the verge of breaking down seeing him being taken away. She placed her hands onto her shoulders for support, “They’ll be looking for us, so it’s best we stay low.”

“Right now, the best thing we can do is have faith.” Ann joined her junior with a small smile, Sumire giving a tearful nod. The girls giving Sumire support after what happened to her was a rough sight to see, first the whole thing with Maruki now she had to see Akira get pulled away by the police. 

But there was one person missing, someone that was behind Kyotaro after he made his way out the window. Goro Akechi, not a single trace left of the guy… 

“Yo, lookie who just bounced…” Kyotaro hiked a thumb behind him as if he had just left the roof, though it wasn’t like they needed the obvious to be announced. “Mr. Detective Prince had just left the crime scene.”

“He disappeared while Akira was being taken away... “ Futaba informed the group with a small smirk forming on her face. “He has no idea.”

“Let’s just hope so.” Haru placed her hands on her chest, trying to calm down her rapidly beating heart. 

The thieves looked over to the front of the casino, where police were driving out of the metaverse. Disappearing in a ripple of black and red once they passed the field.

“Right,” Kyotaro brought a hand to his head and brushed back his dark brown hair covered in sweat, “If this goes to shit then that means Akira is as good as‒”

“ _Shut up, Kyo!_ ” He flinched back hearing the entire team, save for Sumire, yelled at him. He hid his mouth underneath his hands after realizing he said that aloud.

“Crap! S-sorry, Sumi-chan! I- I...” He muffled an apology, but she didn’t look upset. In fact, she was smiling. She kneeled beside Kyotaro and shook her head with her small grin still on her face.

“It’s okay... Because that won’t happen, you’re right Ann-senpai. We just gotta have faith that this will work.”

Right… a bit of hope that this will work. He looked at Sumire with a saddened expression- he looked over to everyone else to see that they had the same hope as she did. Kyotaro didn’t understand the entire plan that they made but they seemed like they knew what they were doing, just had to stay home and wait it out for the best…

And hope Akira was gonna be alright, lord knows where Kyotaro would be if he never met him…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go, the first opening of the story
> 
> As you can tell, this story has some changes to it alongside the OC
> 
> As I wanted Kasumi to be more involved with the Phantom Thieves, I rearranged some stuff like Maruki's palace and downplayed his power for this story
> 
> I have something else planned after Yaldabaoth instead, if I ever get there… 
> 
> Also I named Joker after his manga name, no other reason why. I just like Akira a bit more, I don’t hate the anime name but Akira Kurusu just seemed to roll off the tongue for me. Yeah I know that Amamiya is considered to be basically his canon name, but here’s the thing. He’s a nameless protag in the game, where you can name him literally anything so long as he has a first and last name. And yes, I know there's a character named Akira Konoe in Scramble. I don’t know why I rambled so long on this part. 
> 
> As for my OC's costume and Persona, they will show themselves in due time.
> 
> Thank you and please go easy on me in the reviews


	2. This is Shujin?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyotaro Watanabe's return to school was expected to be just another average experience, but he takes one wrong trip and then everything goes to hell.

* * *

**April 11th: Monday**

**Time: Early Morning**

**Location: Watanabe Residence**

* * *

“Kyo! Breakfast’s ready!” A woman in her mid-thirties called for the boy to grab his breakfast before school. She placed the plate of Omurice onto the table before moving over to the couch to grab her umbrella but when she turned around, she saw that the plate had disappeared. _This again…_

She looked back to the couch, where a boy dressed in his Shujin Academy uniform with dark brown hair styled in a thin wild mess was currently digging into the plate of omelet rice. Bits of egg and rice fell onto his red t-shirt, with a large silver star and the words ‘Star-Dust’ below it, underneath his open jacket which he only brushed off onto the cushions. 

She sighed, “Don’t eat on the couch! Jeez, you have to at least warn me when you’re gonna do that.”

“Do what?” He tilted his head in confusion, unaware of what had upset her. Well, besides eating on the couch.

“Just… Just be good at school, alright?” She ruffled his hair as she walked towards the door but before she walked out, she looked over to her nephew with a smile. “Love you. Oh! And say hi to Mako-chan for me!”

“ _Bye, Aunt Ayaka._ ” Kyotaro Watanabe waved goodbye with a purse of his lips as she walked out the door to her job down at the station, she wasn’t a cop no… she was an administrative assistant, which was just a fancier word for secretary with a higher pay. She thought to be a cop was a pain in the ass with the crimes they had to deal with. But being a secretary to a bunch of cops also seemed like a pain in the ass.

Well, enough of that. Kyotaro needed to get ready at the worst place ever! He jumped over to the sink and dropped his plate into the water that held several others, he moved over to the table where he left his umbrella and bag last night and scurried out the door. 

Shujin was in Aoyama-Itchome so he had to walk over to the train station to get there‒ welp, nothing like a bit of circulation going before school. Plus, the station wasn’t too far away from his house. Of course, it was in the rain so that sucked but… no, it just sucked. But, at least he could catch up on all the latest and meaningless gossip from his fellow Shujin slaves around Yongen-Jaya. It was just pointless stuff like dating and boys or girls or whatever, it was mind-numbing but it was fun to see what people his age were talking about. 

“Hey, it’s Watanabe…” A boy from Shujin scoffed a few feet away.

“Ugh, that guy? What a weirdo…” His friend rolled his eyes.

“Seriously… That guy has no restraint like that one time he replaced all the basketballs with balloons made of some sort of jello.”

“How is that even possible! I saw him fill Sakamoto’s shoe locker with cockroaches! Well, at least it was him of all people.”

“I guess it was funny at first but now it’s just… annoying.”

Hm, guess that was what they were talking about. Him… That’s not a very nice thing for them to do. But he should probably inform them he was in earshot of their conversation.

“Sure am I, and I’m a weirdo with ears!” He called out the two trying to talk behind his back, the two male students quicking their pace as if running out of his sight will make him forget about their shit-talking of him. Besides, he hasn’t done anything like that in a while. The last thing he did was the cockroaches, they were fake of course. 

As for his victim? That was an accident, he was trying to fill Makoto Nijima’s locker but he got the numbers wrong. Sakamoto was _pissed_ … He kinda felt bad for the poor guy, he got his leg broken after his fight with Kamoshida then a few days later he had to deal with that. He probably still hasn’t forgiven him, probably because Kyotaro has been avoiding him like the plague since.

So there was really nothing to do at Shujin, his little hobby had been retired and now he was just left with a prison that had nothing for him to do. He could talk to his friends… HAH! Yeah, _he didn’t have any‒_ er… not any he could talk to or had the time of day to spend time with him. People saw him as more of an annoying little kid that you wanted nothing to do with than as a peer, maybe it was justified but people didn’t even get angry at him anymore. They just… ignored him.

“Well, nothing I can do about that.” He said softly, his lips twisting into a smile as he made his way to the train station.

* * *

**April 11th: Monday**

**Early Morning**

**Location: Cafe Leblanc**

* * *

“Hm, it looks like I’m ready for school…” Akira Kurusu mused as he straightened his jacket, the boy scratched his disheveled hair as he began reminiscing on his situation. 

Getting arrested for doing the right thing, his expulsion from Minamoto High School, his friends back in Nikko isolating themselves from him, and the faces of his parents when they learned he was charged with assault. He tried explaining himself, to say how he was in right for trying to save that woman from that drunkard. But that didn’t matter… What did was that he was charged with a crime, as if he should have let that man have his way with that woman. But based on how she testified against him, maybe it would have been for the best if he was never there in the first place. At least he would have still had his life back home…

“What’s done is done, Akira… Let it go.” He rationalized to himself with a sigh as he grabbed his bag from the desk across his bed and walked down the stairs to meet with Sakura-san.

The man was apparently a friend of his parents and agreed to take care of him until his probation was over at Shujin Academy, some preparatory school in Tokyo that was the only place that would take him. Reasons for such an elitist school would accept him were unknown, but he figured that it was probably a reputation thing. “Reforming” a “Delinquent” would help boost their image. Whatever was the reason, he was now a Shujin student. 

He stepped into the Cafe with his hands in his pockets and greeted Sakura-san, the man stood behind the bar with a plate of curry and water laid out. He raised a brow to Akira, “Oh, so you’re actually going to school?”

Damn… What a subtle insult, Mr. Sakura. Akira bit his tongue from making a comment to the man’s attitude, he seemed like he wasn’t a fan of him already so he shouldn’t be doing anything that could actually piss the man off. After all, he was stuck here for a year and he shouldn’t be biting the hand that feeds him. Speaking off feed, was this for him?

“Here, just finish it before customers start coming in.” Sakura-san pushed the plate towards him, much to the confusion of Akira.

“Curry for breakfast?” He asked as he took his seat, he looked at Sakura-san who was looking at him expectantly.

“What’s wrong, you don’t like curry?” The man seemed almost like he was judging Akira for not digging in.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting something spicy before school.” Akira shrugged before taking a hefty spoonful, it wasn’t like he wasn’t fond of curry. Who didn’t like curry? 

But damn… This was really good. Its flavors were complex with an intense savor and a bold spiciness. The plate was cleaned out before he could even breathe. He looked to Sakura-san with a small smile of satisfaction after taking a sip of water, “That was delicious…”

“Thanks.” The man rubbed his neck at how fast Akira cleaned the plate, a short pause lasted between them for he coughed into his fist. “...Hurry to school. You might get lost along the way so either, don’t do that or be quick about it.” 

With a nod, Akira sat up from his chair and was about to head out the door before Sakura-san asked of him, “Oh, flip that sign outside to OPEN for me. Would you, country boy?”

“Right, I’ll do that. _Old man_.” Akira attempted to jab him in jest with a snap of his fingers.

“What was that?”

“Uh‒ N-nothing! I’ll flip that sign for you, Sakura-san! Okay, bye now!”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

_PI! PI! PI! PI!_ Kyotaro pulled his phone out from his pocket as he held his umbrella tighter, a small grin forming on his face seeing who decided to text him. Though it was strange that she was the one to give him a quick message before school.

**[Makoto N.] Good morning, Kyo.**

**[Kyo W.] Mmhm, am I in trouble? (ㆆ_ㆆ)**

**[Makoto N.] No, I just wanted to say good morning. Is that so wrong?**

**….**

**[Makoto N.] And I wanted to make sure you didn’t pull any stunts this year.**

**[Makoto N.] We may be in different years but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you go around Shujin with your pranks.**

**[Kyo W.] Aw, come on! You know I don’t do that stuff anymore!**

**[Makoto N.] The last time you said that, you filled the bathroom toilets with foam…**

**[Kyo W.] Well, now I’m serious**

**[Kyo W.] Besides, I cleaned it up! I always clean up my messes!**

**[Makoto N.] Right, but I just needed to make sure. As student council president, it’s my job to look after the school.**

**[Kyo W.] My, my! How responsible for you, Miss Prez! Do you have a meeting with the emperor next? (¬‿¬)**

**[Makoto N.] Don’t tease me like that!**

**[Kyo W.] Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Oh and almost forget, Ayaka says hi.**

**[Makoto N.] Right, tell her I said hello back. And don’t be late for school, I’ll be waiting for you outside the front.**

**[Kyo W.] Why?**

**[Makoto N.] I thought it would be nice to head to class together, even if you are a second-year. It’s been a while since we’ve actually done something together.**

**[Kyo W.] Sure, and taking a few steps into school will be sufficient?**

**[Makoto N.] Kyotaro…**

**[Kyo W.] Got it! Ok, walking together will be fine! Bye!**

**[Makoto N.] Good, see you at school.**

He slipped his phone back into his pocket with his grin still on his face. Makoto Nijima, they knew each other through their guardians. His aunt was a friend of her late father and her older sister Sae, who she helped become a prosecutor as he role at the police station. Thus, the two met when he first moved here from Nikko to live with Ayaka. They weren’t… on best terms at first, as most of their interactions were awkward to say the least. 

But she was now honestly someone who he could consider a friend, however she was a year above him and was always with the student council. And now she was president, so the chances that they would have time to hang out were slim.

But he should probably focus his sight on what was in front of him, the loud voice of some guy complaining. Kyotaro walked over two males his age in Shujin Academy uniforms, one familiar and the other unfamiliar… 

It was the bleach blonde Sakamoto and some other guy in a Shujin uniform with glasses and unkempt black hair. Sakamoto-kun seemed to have been the first to take notice of him as he began slowly walking towards him.

“Watanabe… ” Oh crap, that didn’t sound quite friendly. And he was proven right when Sakamoto grabbed him by the collar to look at him with an intense glare. “I haven’t seen you around since that little prank you pulled, you little twerp!” 

“Hey now, Sakamoto-san…” Kyotaro stammered yet kept an unwavering smile as Sakamoto tightened his grip. “Are we really gonna get so riled up for something over the past but I am _really sorry_ about putting a few cockroaches‒”

“A few? You filled my shoe locker with those things!”

“They were fake…”

“Oh, like that matters! You son of a‒ Ngh!” A flash of purple had filled their eyes before a piercing pain had shot through their heads, causing Sakamoto to loosen his grip on Kyotaro’s collar. The headache lasted less than a second yet stung like hell, it was like a nonfatal bullet passing through their brains.

Kyotaro backpedaled in his lightheaded daze, the boy fumbling into the unfamiliar student that was with Sakamoto. He looked over to the student with a shaky bow of his head in apology, to which he gave a small upwards twitch of his lips at his nod. 

“Urgh… My head… What was… Urgh, whatever. I guess we should be heading to school.” Sakamoto looked over to the two of them, though he did give Kyotaro a sideways glance. He began walking to an alleyway and motioned for the two of them to follow. 

“So… You got a name?” Kyotaro asked the stranger with a small smile with his eyes shut, he offered him a spot under his umbrella which the black-haired teen took without any hesitation. 

“Yeah, Akira Kurusu.” Kurusu-san returned Kyotaro’s smile with his own. 

“Cool, the name’s Kyotaro Watanabe.” 

“My name is Ryuji Sakamoto…” Sakamoto-Kun told the black-haired student in glasses. Huh, so that meant they weren’t friends or anything? They just met? “Word of warning, Kurusu. Don’t get involved with Watanabe, you don’t know what he’ll do when your guard is down.” 

“Ouch! Damn, Sakamoto. You are so harsh‒” He cut himself off once the two of them stepped over a puddle, it wasn’t the puddle itself that felt weird but when they crossed over it. It seemed like the atmosphere changed, it seemed warmer and his skin felt like it had a jolt of energy ripple over it.

He looked at Kurusu-san, who seemed to have felt the same thing as he did judging based on the look on his face. The two shared uncertain looks as to what had happened before Sakamoto’s voice brought them back to reality. He sounded quite shocked to see what was on the other side of the alley.

And for good reason, they expected to see the prison known as Shujin Academy but what they got was some sort of castle! And the sky shined down on it in a purple cascade of light, breaking away a large mass of dark clouds as if the large medieval was placed underneath a spotlight. 

“Are we in the right place?” Akira asked Ryuji with a raise of his brow, the bleach blonde’s head turned to the alleyway to check if he had led the three through the right one.

“It should be… this alleyway is where I always get to school through.” Ryuji rubbed the back of his head as his eyes glanced back and forth between the alleyway and the castle.

“Maybe they remodeled the school? Trying to fit with some sort of theme or something?” Kyotaro suggested though it seemed to be more in jest based on the way he spoke, Ryuji scoffing at what he said.

“Yeah, right… Who in their mind does shit like that?” Kyotaro shrugged at Sakamoto's rebuttal before turning around to the alleyway.

“I think I’ll head back… If I don’t find Shujin, then I’ll just head home.” He rubbed the back of his head before beginning his walk back out to the alley. But before he could walk out this whole scene, he was stopped by Ryuji.

“No, this is Shujin. Look!” He pointed to the large engraved plaque sign nearby the gate that readout Shujin, Kyotaro’s eyes widened at the reveal. He looked at the two incredulously.

“So, what do we do? Is this really Shujin or… something?” Kyotaro asked in a voice barely above a whisper, Ryuji walked in front of the two and shrugged. 

“Well, we won’t know if we don’t see for ourselves.” He began an unsteady pace to the drawbridge of the castle with Kurusu and Kyotaro in tow, uncertain about the situation but allowing Ryuji to take the lead on this.

But once they did make it past the entrance, they still saw no school. Just a castle, with large chandeliers and ornamental candles lighting up the large room and velvet red carpets laid out onto the checkered floor. Kyotaro looked over to Ryuji and questioned him in slight jest, “So, where did you lead us to Sakamoto? How are we to explain this to the school, if we ever find it?”

“Oh, shut up Watanabe! This is where Shujin should be, the gate said ‘Shujin’!” Ryuji insisted though it seemed that he only did it because Kyotaro was back talking to him. He glanced over the interior of the place and looked at the two with uncertainty, “Right?”

“Yeah, it did.” Akira reaffirmed as his eyes scanned the place, he tried to rationalize what all of this was. “Maybe it _is_ a remodeling thing, it’s the only explanation that makes a lick of sense.”

Before Sakamoto could open his mouth to respond to Kurusu-san, the sounds of metal clanking and rocking across the floor could be heard and grew closer to where they were. They turned their heads to see a large body in armor and a blue mask march over to them, nearly knocking them out of their socks with his odd costume.

“Holy shit! Who the heck are you?” Ryuji asked the large figure, unbeknownst to him the knight was slowly raising his sword as he continued talking. “Geez, you freaked me out! So what’s with all of this? Did Shujin make some sort of event or something?”

“Sakamoto... “ Kyotaro tried to get the blonde’s attention, but he was too busy with the knight no longer raising his sword but he still didn’t look friendly as he blankly stared at Ryuji.

“Man, your costume is impressive…” He tapped the large figure’s armor, still not realizing what was going on. But he did realize something about the knight once he touched it. “Wait… Is your armor real? H-Hey, come on. Say something!”

“Sakamoto, look!” At Kyotaro’s demand, Ryuji noticed the two other knights that stood beside the one that first appeared in front of them. They lurched forward with the weapons raised, all three teens taking a large step back in surprise. Kyotaro recommended with a stammering voice and shaken smile that contrasted his pulsating heart, “Guys… Let’s book it!”

The two nodded and began to rush for the entrance however two other knights lunged forward and knocked both Ryuji and Kyotaro to the ground, holding them to the ground with the front of their shields while they prevented Akira from running with their swords to his neck. Ryuji cursed as they continued to apply pressure to his back, “Gah! Y-You’re gonna break my bones dammit! The hell are you‒ Aagh!” 

“Ngh!” Kyotaro felt more force from the shield against his back, causing his vision to go dark as soon as one of the guards called for them to be taken away.


	3. The Pillager of Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three wake up in a strange place after being knocked unconscious where they are met with a familiar yet punchable face

He didn’t remember that much of his first home. 

He believed he was happy but those memories were flushed away, his uncle seemed like a happy person to be around. But he can’t remember any exact details, except for the few times he shared his new book deals with him and the times they would read together. 

But the day that clouded those memories was the day he found his uncle dead.

A child no more than seven creaked his eyes open and began to inspect the sounds of keys clicking at intense speed, he made his way to the room across the hallway and peeked from behind the door frame to see his uncle working late into the night. 

He was working on his new book. He said that he wanted to finish the book by the end of March next year. Forgoing his own sleep and time to relax for it.

But… That didn’t seem right, the boy remembered overhearing something over the phone. His uncle was yelling behind the door. He remembered hearing his uncle insisting that he couldn’t finish it by the deadline and that there was no way he could work under conditions like that. 

But after a few minutes of murmuring from the voice on the phone, he gave in. He didn’t understand it then but something that man on the voice said was the reason his uncle gave up most of his days writing that book.

And it was probably the reason why Kyotaro found his uncle’s dead body when he returned from school the day after he published the book. Gun in hand and a bullet passed through his temple. 

He didn’t remember much of what happened next, police arrived on the scene to take away his uncle, Kyotaro was asked a few questions about his uncle's sudden death but at the time he wasn’t aware of what had caused it due to his young mind.

The following day, he was taken to an orphanage where he stayed until he was ten. Where he was left with very few and was given very little love.

* * *

“Clean that shit up, will you kid?” 

It was a phrase that was commonly heard when he and his adoptive father were in the same room. Much like a bell that an aristocrat would use to call forth their servants, but this man was just a sad drunk. He could be seen looking over framed pictures of a younger version of himself with a woman beside him and a little girl between them. 

But the reason why he was adopted was not that he needed to fill a hole in his heart, but it was more monetary gain. As his uncle’s book did become quite popular, especially with the news of his death. 

People wanted to see the last writings of Natsume Hirakaoka, being known as the famous Ryunosuke Tanizaki to the public, and dissect what were his last thoughts. Kyotaro was given all of his profit shares from his uncle’s books as stated in his will and he made sure the money would go to his nephew but there was a loophole. 

The money from the shares couldn’t be funneled directly to a child until he was 18 so it was given to his caretakers. The drunk used this to his advantage and used the money to support his drinking habits while he left Kyotaro to take care of the house.

Food, laundry, cleaning up his bile from his overdrinking. If he ever said no on the rare occasions, he was threatened with a beating. But in his stay there, Kyotaro can’t remember the man laying a finger on him once. But he wasn’t merciful in his words. 

“Stupid little shit!”

“Annoying pest!” 

“Dumb fucking kid!”

Each one was like a bullet in his chest, over the days he learned how to deal with the man. Just do what he said and there would be no trouble, no yelling. He would meet the man with a straight posture and hands behind his back. Trying to bury any venomous emotions as he did his chores. 

This went on until he was eleven, where he was moved to another family with some help of some of his uncle's associates. But the last interaction he had with the drunk was a silent stare, Kyotaro coldly staring at the man while he looked away in an indiscernible expression. Maybe he was feeling guilty for how he treated him or maybe he was disheartened to see his only way of supporting himself was gone. 

* * *

It didn’t matter anyway… 

“I guess I’ll just go now…” 

Something that he commonly said when he returned to his large room, his attempts to connect with his new family were rarely successful. The closest he’s ever been to reaching a connection was the small smile he would get when he made some overly exaggerated happy-go-lucky facade, those were times he truly felt satisfied with himself. But those times were too far and in-between. 

He didn’t know why these people even took him in, they didn’t need his uncle’s royalties and they didn’t seem like they wanted to spend time with him. They always kept their focus on their work, calling people over the phone and going out for a meeting together. At least he wasn’t forced to do anything he didn’t want to do. 

He spent most of his time in his room, reading and watching tv. It was mind-numbing but it made the days go by. And it did spark some interest in a few hobbies of his, writing and drawing. Where he was allowed to let his mind go wild, the hours he spent drawing in the several notebooks he had and the other hours he spent writing on his laptop that his caretakers gave him to keep them out of their hair. 

As for his school life, he was an outcast. When he was with the drunk, other kids wanted nothing to do with such a gloomy kid. Things got slightly better with these two, he learned how to put on the facade to get other kids to play with him. He would pull little tricks on the teacher that got the other kids laughing but would get him in trouble with the people that took him in. But they never gave him a reason not to play around, they just mostly ignored what he did and went back to their work. 

And again, he was transferred to a new house all the way in Tokyo. The couple that took him in not even giving him a goodbye.

* * *

Ayaka was his aunt on his mother’s side, the only reason she didn’t take him in sooner was that he was in Nikko where his paternal uncle lived. Her home was fairly small and she insisted on staying in such a home due to nostalgia’s sake, even though the royalties that funneled into her bank account could be enough to move into a bigger home. Apparently, it was the same home she and his mother grew up in.

He… didn’t know much about her, she died in childbirth while his father left after her death nowhere to be seen again. His aunt told him about stories of his mother when they were children, but it felt like everyday stories of her friends that she would tell him about. Not the woman who gave birth to him. His aunt was always so chipper about it too. She was always so happy, with a smile that reached her ears. Maybe that was the reason she had so many friends...

Kyotaro tried doing the same thing with the kids at school, he tried doing moronic acts in order to get their attention. Painting the teacher’s desk, tagging the bathroom walls, anything! But they seemed more annoyed at his antics and how hard he tried. 

But he couldn’t stop acting out. If he stopped that meant that people were just going to ignore him and something in the back of his head told him that being ignored was worse than everyone scoffing at the mention of your name. 

He had always put on that happy facade, maybe if he kept smiling he might be able to make friends like his aunt. But nothing… nothing worked. 

He wasn’t even saddened by this, he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t regretful. He didn’t know what he felt… 

* * *

Heh, this stupid… 

Why was getting all emotional about this? In fact, where was he?

Where were Sakamoto and Kurusu-san? 

What was going on?

_We are merely reflecting on your story, Wanderer…_

Wha? What’s‒ Who are you?

_Mhm… I can not tell you that, unfortunately. My name has been taken from me._

Taken? W-Where am I? What happened?

_Your body sleeps in the world of cognition while your mind is left here in this void of thought, where my voice can reach you._

World of… what? Who are you?

_I am a captive, who calls for you to journey alongside my guest to free me from this cell of cognition and save humanity from destruction._

Save? I don’t understand…

_To be expected, but soon you will see. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to speak with you on these matters. But I will give guidance when I am able to. May we meet again, Wanderer._

Wanderer? What does that mean? Hey, wait! Come back! Tell me what’s going on‒

* * *

**April 11th: Monday**

**Time:?**

**Location: Shujin?**

* * *

“Hey… ake up! Wake up!” Kyotaro felt his arm being shaken by Sakamoto, he quickly opened his eyes and lifted himself up off the cold hard ground swiftly. Where his forehead had smashed into Sakamoto’s, causing him to fall back to the ground to hold his aching head.

“Aagh! What the hell man?! You effin douche!” Ryuji yelled, holding his head with his left hand. 

“Next time, don’t put your head so close!” Kyotaro retorted as he picked himself back up, he looked over to Kurusu-san who was watching their antics in the corner. “Ngh… But where are we?”

“Jail, I think.” He pointed to the door of the room, a large jail cell door of bars.

Kyotaro examined the room where he saw that it was reminiscent of a medieval torture chamber with chains hanging from the walls. He looked over to Sakamoto with a raised brow in questioning, to which he shrugged to show his ignorance about their situation.

“Where are we?!” Ryuji asked, gripping his head with a scowl. “Is this some sort of TV set?!”

Before either Akira or Kyotaro could say something, the blood-curdling screams could be heard muffled in the distance. Chills running down each of their spines, they shared uncertain glances before making their way to the cell doors. Sakamoto breathed out, “Th-The hell was that just now?”

As more screams of agony were heard, Kyotaro’s eyes looked over to the chains on the walls. A hard gulp followed once his mind filled in the backs. “T-There are people being tortured… ”

“F-For real?!” The three backed up from the door, their jaws clenched and brows raised and pulled together. But as they began contemplating ways to get out of this situation, one of the guards walked in front of their cell.

 _“Be glad your punishment has been decided upon.”_ They spoke in a distorted voice that was filled with contempt. _“Your charge is unlawful entry. Thus, your punishment is death.”_

“What?! Are you shitten me?” Ryuji breathed out, taking a few more steps back.

“We didn’t know!” Kyotaro made an attempt to plead for their lives. “Just let us go, and we’ll be out like we weren’t even here!” 

_“Silence,”_ Another voice drew closer before revealing himself in front of the jail cell, _Kamoshida…_ But he looked strange. He was dressed in a fur cloak with hearts all over it with a small golden crown on his head, and strangest of all he had large glowing golden eyes that made him seem inhuman. _“No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle, mistake or not.”_

“Huh? Wait… Is that you, Kamoshida?” Ryuji couldn’t help but growl at his name.

“Kamoshida? Is it that pervy teacher?” Akira whispered as he saw the two stare each other down.

 _“I thought it was some petty thief, but I didn’t think it would be you, Sakamoto… “_ His eyes glanced over to Kyotaro, causing the boy to look away with his right hand clenching his other arm. _“And Watanabe, still have that money you owe me?”_

“I-!... We never made that deal…” He bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling, Kamoshida? laughing at his sheepish attitude while his cellmates looked at him with raised brows at the mention of a deal.

 _“Well… at least you know your place.”_ He looked back to Sakamoto with a scowl. _“Unlike you… So you’re trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven’t learned your lesson, at all. And you brought a few friends with you.”_

“This ain’t funny, you asshole!” The blonde shot back, slamming his fist against the cell door. Causing the odd visage of Kamoshida’s scowl to deepen.

 _“Is that how you speak to a king? It seems you don’t understand the position you’re in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, but you also committed the crime of insulting me—the king. The punishment for that is death. It’s time for execution! Take him out!”_ He snapped his fingers, the guards beside him stepped into the jail cell and cornered Sakamoto at his silent command. 

The blonde shook in fear as they raised their weapons, but he suddenly shoved one of them down with a hard shoulder check and yelled out to the two students in the corner. “I ain’t down for this shit! C’mon! We’re outta here!” 

He was stopped once one of the guards used the pommel of their sword to thrust it into his stomach, knocking Sakamoto back down. Kursu made an attempt to help him out of the situation, but he was stopped when the guards closed in on him. 

Sakamoto weakly said, “Just go! Get out of here… These guys are serious.”

Damn it… Kyotaro took a hard gulp as his eyes glanced back and forth between Sakamoto and the open door, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest as he began making a break for it out the door. Leaving Akira stunned at his choice of leaving Sakamoto-Kun to die. 

The distorted visage of Kamoshida gave a hearty laugh. _“What a heartless friend you have there, Sakamoto!”_

“They aren’t friends…” He weakly raised his head to see that Kurusu was still in the room, he yelled out. “Go! Follow him! Get out of here!”

Akira’s shoulders shook as he looked over to Sakamoto, “I… I’m not‒”

 _“Oh… You’re too SCARED to run…”_ Kamoshida waved off to the guards with a bored tone, _“Pathetic scum isn’t worth my time… I’ll just focus on this one’s execution.”_

Two of the guards held Ryuji by the shoulders while they left Akira to watch the scene play out. Kamoshida’s face twisted into a distorted smile as he reared his fist to Sakamoto.

_“Take this!”_

_“Lowly Scum!”_

_"Useless Pest!”_

That last punch knocked Sakamoto out from the guards’ grasp, the blonde falling to the ground with a hard thud. As he looked up, he saw Kamoshida gather saliva to spit on his face. The bastard spoke condescendingly, _“A peasant like you isn’t worth a beating. I’ll have you killed right now.”_

This made Akira’s blood run cold if he didn’t do something Ryuji was going to die… Without a second thought, he yelled. “Stop it! You sick bastard, you’re really gonna kill him?!”

 _“Hm?”_ Kamoshida turned around to see that the other intruder had not run off like Watanabe, his blood boiling once he saw his intense expression trying to burn him where he stood. _“What…? Don’t you dare tell me what to do and that you don’t know who I am. That expression on your face irritates me!”_

He gave a swift kick to Akira’s gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall to the ground. He turned to his guards with an evil smirk. _“Hold him down… After the peasant, it’s his turn to die.”_

“Wh-What? No…No, I don’t wanna die!” Ryuji pleaded as he struggled to pick himself up.

Akira tried to stop this, but he was forced back by two other guards and forced to the wall. Damn it… Was there nothing he could do? He couldn’t watch him die like this!

 _“This is truly an unjust game…”_ The voice of a young girl rang in his ears, he looked around the cell to find the origin of this voice. But what he noticed was how the world around him seemed to darken as a blue butterfly flew past him in a glowing aura. _“Your chances of winning are almost none.”_

 _“But if my voice is reaching you, there may still be a possibility open to you…”_ What? What possibility? He needed it whatever it was! 

But once the butterfly disappeared, the world seemingly returned to normal. However, another voice rang in his head. Similar to his own yet it was more ferocious and rang in a distorted voice. 

**_“What’s the matter? Are you simply going to watch?”_ **

“I…” Akira let out, his words failing him as he saw the scene before him slow down. Ryuji’s terrified expression as the guards slowly inched closer to him, Kamoshida’s smug expression as he drank in the blonde boy’s fear. It felt all too familiar…

**_“Are you forsaking him to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing…”_ **

“B-But I can’t…”

**_“Can't? Or won’t? Are you afraid?”_ **

“Afraid? Afraid of what?” 

**_“Afraid of that if you do something, you’ll face the consequences.”_** Akira’s breath drew sharp. Face the consequences… 

Yeah, he was afraid. But if he did something this time, he would most likely die. 

**_“Was your previous decision a mistake then?”_ **

His decision… His choice to save that woman from that drunk, the choice that ruined his life. It alienated him from his ‘friends’... His school expelled him for doing the right thing as if his grades and life there didn’t exist. Even his own parents couldn't even look at him after he was charged with assault. 

That woman spoke against him, the man got off scot-free… But he knew he didn’t make a mistake, who cares if it ruined his life! He wasn’t going to let bastards like that damn drunk or this ‘Kamoshida’ just do whatever they want to people! He didn’t make a mistake and he wasn’t going to allow Sakamoto to die like this!

**_“Very well… I have heeded your resolve.”_ **As the voice rang in his head with a laugh, he felt a sharp pain hit his brain. His vision became enveloped by purple and the pain in his head digging deeper, he let out a blood-curdling scream as the voice continued.

**_“Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I… Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name and release thy rage!”_ **

“AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!” Akira’s head dropped after his last scream of sweat-filled pain. But as the voice continued, he slowly began to rise once again.

**_“Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all of thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!”_ **He raised his head, a fierce gaze that burned with fire as he stared daggers into the back of the king’s head. 

“Execute him!‒”

“That’s enough, you perverted son of a bitch!” Akira demanded with a growl, the king slowly turning around to see the one who dared to insult him while he stood captured by his men. 

_“What was that?”_ He scowled with a heavy scoff, _“You desire to be killed that much…? Fine!”_

At a bob of his head, the guard to the right of Akira knocked his shield into the side of his head and knocked the glasses off his face. Two other of Kamoshida’s men brought their spears and cross them over his neck as one other guard held his sword in front of the incapacitated teen. Akira closed his eyes as he heard the sounds of the guard’s raised arm. He was going to… 

‘No…’ It was the only thing that came to his mind once the blade was about to drop to his neck. Was he going to die?

 _'No.'_ He sharply opened his eyes, a large gust of wind knocking the guards off balance and free him from his execution and from the spears to his neck. He felt something form onto his face, a white mask that framed his eyes. Without a single thought, his fingers began to tear at the ends of the mask. Blood began to spurt out from his tearing yet Akira refused to stop.

With a vocal cord-tearing yell, Akira was able to finally get the mask off. He raised his head, revealing a devilish smile with blood covering his face and his once dark gray eyes now glowing in a fire yellow. Embers of blue flames began enveloping his body and the blood dissolved into a blue fire and then proceeded to devour his entire body with thin lines of red making out a sharp expression with a V-shaped smile similar to that of jack o’ lantern. 

The flames began to rise from Akira’s body, revealing the frizzy hair boy in a new set of clothing. A black gentleman coat with three separate coattails that reached his ankles, a high-necked waistcoat, black pants and a pair of red gloves. 

Chains erupted from the flames behind him and the blue blaze began to take shape. Revealing a lanky figure resembling a gentleman with its corset, cropped red coat, and top hat. It had a long-horned mask with that same smile from before, its body began shaking about at the chains around its body. Before snapping them and revealing a pair of black wings that sprouted from its lower back.

Akira raised his hands as the creature’s wings sent the guards flying across the room. As the transfer’s smile reached his ears at the advent of his new power, the gentleman demon’s voice rang out in a distorted echo. 

**_“I am the Pillager of Twilight‒ Arsene!”_ ** The demonic angel announced as he floated beside Akira, it’s arm crossed over its chest and hand that was held parallel to its chin with fingers curled. The spirit spoke to Akira as he faced the enemies before them, **_“I am the rebel soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall grant you the power to break through the crisis.”_ **

“I think you already know what I want, give me your power…” Akira said sternly as his knuckles tightened into his palms.

 ** _“Hmph, very well…”_** The spirit known as Arsene had flexed its wings once more as the two of them focused their gaze on Kamoshida.

 _“Who the hell‒ Guards! Start by killing this one!”_ The ‘king’ commanded of his two knights with a raised finger but he could be seen backing up as Akira gave him another sharp glare. 

The two masked men began to vibrate with an intense tremor before exploding into geysers of red and black. Amongst each of the bursts, there was a floating pumpkin head with glowing red eyes dressed in a robe and a witch hat‒ in their hands was a lantern that they held in front of their bodies. Their king called out to Akira as his spirit in a threat, _“You’ll learn the true strength of my men!”_

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Said the frizzy-haired teen as he gave a large smirk and a glint forming in his eye. He raised his hands once again while Arsene mirrored his fierce movements, “Let’s ravage them, Arsene!” 


	4. Persona!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyotaro attempts to escape the castle after his decision to abandon the two. However, he is confronted with a choice he never wished to face.

**April 11th: Monday**

**Time:?**

**Location: Shujin?**

* * *

“Damn it!” Kyotaro cursed as he ran up the stairs of the dungeon, was he wrong for running away? No, of course not. If he didn’t run then that means all of them were going to die… But, he still couldn’t help but feel guilty. 

**_“I am Thou…"_ ** Kyotaro's eyes widened at the sudden n voice that rang in his head, its call caused his head to surge with pain. The way it spoke somewhat resembled his own voice yet it seemed more nefarious in its tone. He stumbled through the dungeon with a drunken gait as he clenched his head with the voice continuing to speak, **_“Thou art I… Thou hast allowed fear and uncertainty control you, and so thou hast forgone morality in favor of thy self-interests.”_ **

“I… can’t do anything.” He attempted to weakly defend himself, but the voice continued in his chiding of the boy.

**_“Can’t? Or won’t?”_ ** His breath drew to a sharp inhale and his pupils constricted, the voice sighed with exasperation once again. **_“Fortunately, thine companion known as the trickster has awakened to his power. Yet thou, Wanderer, hast fallen behind in this game.”_ **

“W-wait… They’re alive?” He felt a wave of relief hearing this– barring his lack of knowledge on what the voice meant by ‘trickster awakening to power’, this was amazing news! But the voice wouldn’t let up in his scolding.

**_“Hmph… Such a weak action, waiting for another to solve the problems that you are faced with. Know this, if thou wishes to find thine true power– thou must be willing to face the chains of Hell.”_ **

“I… I don’t understand! Just tell me, what the hell is going on–”

“Hey! Hey, weirdo!” A boyish voice called his attention. Kyotaro shook his head as the pain in his head began fading away, he attempted to listen to the voice in his head but nothing came back to him. “Hey, over here!”

With a hefty sigh, he turned his head to meet with the kid– It… It wasn’t a kid or even human! What his eyes landed on was some sort of cat thing… “Look over here! You’re not a guard of this castle are you?”

He slowly shook his head as his eyes lingered on the strange creature with his eyes sinking into their sockets.

“Good, get me outta here! The key’s right over… Why are you staring at me?” The cat-like thing asked, noticing how Kyotaro’s eyes were widened as he stared at him incredulously. 

“What… the hell? A cat?”

“I am NOT a cat! Say that again and you’ll regret it!” The _cat_ had protested, stomping his little feet.

“I’ve lost my mind… First, the voice in my head– now this.” Kyotaro breathed out, his eyes still wide and his fingers went limp. “I knew it was gonna happen someday but I didn’t think it happen so‒” 

“You aren’t crazy, you idiot! Just let me out, I know where the exit is! I’ll lead you to it!” This caught his attention, so if he freed this cat he was home free? But… he couldn’t take it, he left those guys back there so he needed to make sure they were okay too. 

He kneeled down to meet the cat’s eye level, “I’ll let you out if you help two other guys stuck here, they were in a prison cell on the floor below this one. One has frizzy black hair and the other is a bleach blonde. But you have to swear to me that you won’t leave without these two.”

“I never make a promise I can’t keep!” The monster cat insisted. He didn't seem like he was lying based on his tone and the intensity in his boyish voice.

With that, he took the key off the wall and let the little thing out from its cell. The cat stretched its little limbs with a smile on its face. Not gonna lie, it was kinda cute if not strange with how cartoonish it looked. “Ah… Freedom tastes great!”

“You better not go back on your word, monster cat!” Kyotaro demanded and pointed a finger towards the little creature. To which it turned around and stomped his foot at the mention of _that word_. 

“I am NOT a cat, my name is Morgana! And I’ll find your friends– so what about you? You gonna make a break for it?” The creature known as Morgana asked of Kyotaro, the boy nodding at his question.

“Yeah, you think you can tell me the directions to this exit of yours?”

“Yeah, it’s‒” Morgana was cut off when guards suddenly appeared, they made an attempt to grab the two. But the cat creature expertly hopped over their shoulders, landing behind the large group with a large smirk forming on his face.

“Shit! Let me go, damn it!” Kyotaro, however, was captured by the guards. He struggled to get out of their grasp as he was heaved over one of their shoulders, calling for Morgana to help him. Before the cat could make his way to him, five other guards blocked his path.

 _“Take him to the king!”_ The guards that blocked Morgana from saving Kyotaro demanded before their bodies’ transmogrified into floating pumpkin heads with lanterns in their hands.

“Fine then… Come, show your might! Zorro!” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Where the hell are we going?” Ryuji asked the spectacled teen as they made their way through the dungeon. After Kurusu pulled out that angel thing and killed those guards, they locked Kamoshida in their jail cell and made a break for it. 

Whatever that was, they decided on talking about it after they got out of this place.

“I don’t know if we keep going up the stairs there's bound to be an exit. Right?” Akira mused, he wasn’t entirely sure about that but it seemed to make sense.

“Maybe, but where’s Watanabe?” Ryuji asked as he scanned the floor they were on.

“I thought you hated him?”

“I don’t want him dead!” He drew to a halt and stomped his foot, causing Akira to rub the back of his head. Ryuji calmed down and took a hefty sigh, “But I don’t hate him either, I actually kinda feel bad for the guy. He’s always smiling but I know it’s fake, I think everyone at school knows it’s fake but no one knows where to begin with him.”

The blonde shook his head when he thought back to the guy’s less admirable elements, “What does piss me off is that he’s always looking to be the center of attention if even it means people get annoyed by him.” 

Akira rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about that Watanabe guy. He just couldn’t figure that guy out, he got a basic idea of Ryuji. He was vulgar and a bit rough but he had a nice heart, based on the way he was willing to let him leave while he was in trouble. But with what little time he saw of Watanabe, he knew he was a bit of a prankster seeking attention but not much else. 

So why did he feel an odd connection to him? Wait… that sounded weird, did he phrase that wrong?

“Hey, what the heck is that?” Ryuji took notice of something in the distance and pointed towards a large number of those pumpkin things that Akira fought being blown away in a burst of green wind. The two shared a look before running over to se what was happening.

It was some sort of cat monster thing that stood at two feet tall, currently hopping around with a cutlass waving around in his paw and behind him was a large burly body in black leather with thin legs, a large metallic mustache shaped into a ‘W’, and a rapier in his hand. The creature noticed the two by the bridge and hopped over to them with the large body disappearing, causing Ryuji to stumble backward and fall to the floor.

“So, you’re Weirdo’s friends? Frizzy hair and Blondie, just like he said…” The cat rubbed his chin with his paw as he examined the two of them.

“Weirdo? Do you mean Watanabe? Where is he?” Akira asked the monster cat, seemingly unfazed by the creature unlike Ryuji– who was currently stunned that such a thing was right in front of him.

“He was captured by the guards here, but he told me to help lead you out of here.” 

“Wait, what?!” Ryuji picked himself off the ground and yelled out. But before the creature could answer him, two more of those pumpkin heads darted towards them. 

And as if by an instinctive defense, Akira’s black clothes from before returned in a flash of blue flames. He subconsciously brought his hand to the white domino mask on his face and tore it off, calling forth the winged monster resembling a gentleman with a jack o lantern-like face. His ‘guardian angel’ of sorts had flown towards one of the pumpkin heads and sliced them across the neck with his heels using Cleave.

“Hm, not bad… But let me show you how a pro does it! Zorro! Garu!” The large burly figure appeared behind the cat and sliced the air in a ‘Z’ motion, calling forth a gust of green wind that destroyed the last remaining pumpkin. 

“What the‒ You got one of those things too? You… _weird monster cat?_ ” Ryuji tilted his head, the cat creature stomping his foot at the mention of _that word._

“I am not a cat! I am Morgana! How many times do I have to tell you, people?!”

“Right, about that… You were talking about Watanabe being kidnapped.” Akira brought up the conversation they left off on but once again, the creature was interrupted. The frizzy-haired teenager’s clothing returned to his Shujin uniform, catching the two in front of him off balance. 

“Woah! Your clothes changed‒ _Wait, a guy got kidnapped!_ Where is he?!” Ryuji shook his head to get his mind back on the subject of Watanabe being captured by Kamoshida’s guards. 

“Hmph, Weirdo said that he wanted me to get you guys out of here. That’s what I’m about to do first.” The creature known as Morgana insisted, keeping a confident stance as he told the two.

“Wha? We can’t just leave him! He’ll be killed!” Ryuji shot back as he stepped forward, sure he wasn’t too fond of Watanabe but he wasn’t gonna leave him here!

“That’s right, we can get out of here later. First, we need to save Watanabe.” Akira declared with a nod and a glint in his eye.

“Alright, fine.” Morgana sighed, shaking his large head at the two’s determination to save the scrawny kid. “Frizzy Hair, Blondie. Just follow me, I think I might know where they took your friend.”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Hrugh!” Kyotaro was thrown on the floor of the large room near the dual staircases without any sense of care, he turned to the guards behind him as he rubbed his bruises. “Jeez, couldn’t have at least propped up some pillows first?” 

_“Still running that mouth of yours?”_ He felt a cold chill run down his spine hearing that distorted voice of Shujin’s PE teacher, Kyotaro stiffly turned around to see the golden-eyed man who called himself king walk towards him with an evil smile. 

_“You see Watanabe… That’s the reason why nobody wants to bother with you. You just keep running that mouth of yours and act like a jackass until the adults come in.”_ He paused for a moment to see Kyotaro slowly retreat backward, laughing at his submissive state. _“But you know, I never had a problem with you. After I read your file, I saw an opportunity. So what do you say… “_

He knew where this was going, even this ‘king’ version of himself was planning on using him. _“I’ll let you go if you fill my pockets with cash.”_

* * *

**Kyotaro’s 1st year at Shujin**

**Time: Afternoon**

**Location: Shujin: PE Faculty Office**

* * *

“Yo! You called me, teach?” A first-year Kyotaro stepped into Mr. Kamoshida’s office, expecting the man to give a lecture after he superglued several 5 yen coins all over the school– people attempted to heave them all over campus. So he was ready to break out the apologies and cool it for a few days, but he wasn’t expecting the man to give him such a large smile.

“Ah, Watanabe… Right? Please, have a seat.” Mr. Kamoshida gestured to a fold-up chair at the other end of the room, Kyotaro raised a brow at this situation but he shrugged it off and took his seat. The burly PE teacher continued with that overly exaggerated smile, “So I heard of your little pranks, heh… You made quite the name for yourself.”

“Yes.” He bit his tongue from making any snarky comments, he was an adult so he needed to be a bit more careful with his words.

“Come on, you don’t need to be so quiet. I’m not here to hurt you.” Mr. Kamoshida laughed, but his smile faltered a bit as he looked at Kyotaro with an indistinguishable expression as he leaned his chin onto his fingers. “I guess you can say I’m here to give you a bit of guidance, I noticed how people aren’t exactly fond of you here.”

“Hm? What do you mean sir?” 

“Well, I noticed how your fellow students talk ill of you constantly.” He sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, “And I don’t think that’s quite fair, especially to someone like you.”

“I… I don’t mind it, they don’t need to like me.” Kyotaro scratched his cheek as he averted his gaze from Mr. Kamoshida.

“Really? I think you deserve a bit of companionship, after all… You’re the only one with such a renowned uncle.” That caused Kyotaro to reel back in surprise, he stiffly turned his head to Kamoshida who was still looking at him with that overly exaggerated smile. 

“But I think I can help you out here, I’m a bit respected here in Shujin. And I think I’m able to get a few people to spend time with you and see you for who you really are.” Kamoshida placed a hand on his shoulder, the boy looking at him incredulously. “But I’m gonna need a little help as well, you see I’m in charge of the Volleyball team and we’re gonna need a bit more help keeping us afloat.”

“I… I’m not allowed to get into my uncle’s profits until I’m 18, I’m sorry.” At the mention of money, Kyotaro felt a pit forming in his stomach. He made an attempt to get up and walk out the door but Kamoshida kept him in his seat.

“Well, that actually isn’t entirely true Watanabe-Kun.” Kamoshida laughed, the boy starting to see the cracks in this facade of his. “You have the final say in terms of what you do with those shares you got from your uncle’s will, so I’m just asking you to put a bit of those book royalties to Shujin’s volleyball team as a sponsor. Just get a lawyer and it’ll all be an easy task.”

Kamoshida leaned in with a sly grin as he spoke in a voice slightly above a breath. “So I’m here to make a deal with you, you serve as the Volleyball team’s sponsor and I make Shujin for you here a dream.”

Damn it… He couldn’t give the bastard the money. Kamoshida was always trying to get it out of him in the most unsubtle ways. Every time he would walk into the hallways, that muscle-bound mop head would be there. Every time someone talked bad about him, he would be there. 

But it was easier to ignore him on school grounds, but now it was a matter of life and death. The only way he was getting out of here was if he said yes. Very well then, just let him hear what he wants to hear. 

“Alright, I’ll take the deal! Just let me go‒” 

He was cut off when he heard the sounds of a metallic body falling to the ground behind him, he sharply turned his head to see that Sakamoto tackled one of the guards behind him. The blonde called out, “Watanabe! Let’s go!” 

“Come! Arsene!” Kurusu’s voice called out in a loud growl, where a large pyre of black and red flames erupted from under one of the guards. Kyotaro’s head turned to see the frizzy-haired teen in a black tailcoat and a white domino mask on his face.

“What the hell?!” His mouth gaped at the odd sight, the scene getting odder when that cat creature showed himself in front of Kurusu. “Moragahna? What are you doing here?!”

“ _It’s Morgana!_ And your friends wanted to save you, so I had to tag along.” The creature shook its large bulb-like head with a sigh. 

“T-thanks… Wait, no. Get out of here!” Kyotaro demanded of the three, catching them off-guard with the intensity of his voice. He turned to the king of this castle, “M-Mr. Kamoshida, I’ll give you the money! Just let us go!”

 _“Us? No, no kid…”_ The king gritted his teeth as he slowly stepped forward with a large number of guards arriving behind him. He raised his fist that shook with its tight grip. _“I’m not going to allow useless trash barge into my palace and escape! Guards, kill them!”_

“Wait! Please, just let us go‒”

“ _SHUT THE HELL UP!”_ He gave Kyotaro a backhanded slap, knocking him to the ground. He spat out as he faced the other three intruders. _“The only reason I haven’t killed you is because of your bank account, you’re just an annoying pest that no one gives two shits about. So you better just fill my pockets and leave! Now, kill them!”_

Damn it… He couldn’t get him to stop, they were outnumbered. He could get away right now, but he couldn’t…

He couldn’t leave them to die… 

So what the hell was he supposed to do?!

**_“Give in…”_ ** The voice spoke once again, Kyotaro raised himself off the ground as he continued. **_“Allow yourself to do what thine heart desires, let no one chain thou down. STRIKE BACK AGAINST THINE OPPRESSOR! NO MATTER HELL THAT AWAITS!”_ **

Strike back, huh?

Yes… Strike back, it was the only thing left to do. 

If he didn’t then they would all die, _so he just had to let go…_

He ran over to the pink-underwear wearing bastard who was too focused on the three that were surrounded by his guards, Kyotaro tightened his right fist and punched the so-called king in his jaw. 

While he wasn’t exceptionally strong, Kamoshida staggered back in surprise at the newly formed bruise on his chin. He looked over to the pest of a piggy bank that punched him, to see him with a large smile that reached his ears in an evil manner.

**_“Hm, A smile of intensity! Yet I can’t feel my true powers, strange but I can not allow this act of rebellion to go unrewarded!”_ ** The voice rang in a sinister voice, Kyotaro’s head jerked in pain at the migraine forming in his brain but his Cheshire smile was still on his face. **_“I will give thou what little I have, but know this is merely the beginning. Find my true power, find my name, and then we can truly forge our contract!”_ **

A small surge of blue flames had circled around him and scorched his skin, eventually transforming his clothes with stains of red and black cloth forming like mold as it grew to his neck. Taking the form of an outfit similar to that of a ringmaster with a garnet red tailcoat with a white collar, white fingerless gloves, sleek light gray pants with small white stripes running down the legs, and short black leather boots that were cut slightly above the calf.

A small spark of flame ignited onto his face then dissipated to reveal a smooth white domino mask with small gray curved trails at the corners of the frame that ran down the side of his jaw and stopped at his ears. While wearing it, his eyes changed from his normal dark brown to a milky white film with no irises to be seen and his pupil becoming a pair of light gray spots in a sea of white. In his hands was a dark gray machete that he flicked about in amusement as he gave Kamoshida a crazed stare.

“No way! His clothes changed too?!” Ryuji exclaimed in disbelief at Watanabe’s sudden change much like Akira

 _“Ngh… Kill them! Don’t let them go!”_ Kamoshida turned around and ordered his guards before walking out of the scene, leaving them to Kyotaro, Akira, and Morgana.

“So, you ready to take them down?” Akira stepped up to stand beside Kyotaro with a smirk, the ringmaster dressed boy giving a confident nod as he faced the guards before him, their bodies convulsing before revealing the form of those pumpkin heads and fairies in one-piece suits. 

“Let’s go!” He charged with his machete in hand, slashing away at the pixie and causing it to burst into a mess of red and black. 

“Arsene! Cut them down!” He pulled off his mask, calling forth his black-winged guardian. The creature dive kicked with Cleave and into the other pixie, slicing it in half before it burst like the previous one.

“Hmph… Not bad, but let me throw my hat into the ring!” Not being one to be outdone, Morgana called forth his own guardian. Commanding him to call forth a Garu that killed a Pyro Jack before moving onto another.

There was one enemy left, and Kyotaro wanted to see what his guardian had to offer. However, unlike Akira, his mask did not leave his face while his creature arose in a spiral of blue fire. The creature that showed itself was strange, to say the least, it was a lanky figure that looked to be over eight feet tall as it floated behind. It had no face and its body looked to be cloaked in a veil of black fire with chains bounding its thin arms to its chest. 

“Go! Persona!” He pointed towards the last enemy and commanded his guardian, the figure of black mirrored the stance of his legs and lunged forward head-first. Striking Pyro Jack but not killing it, so he raised his machete and ran the monster through in the head. Ending the battle there.

The red-coated boy turned around to the others in the room with satisfaction, he rubbed his nose and smirked, “Not… Bad‒Ngh!”

Kyotaro felt his chest grow heavy and his head began to feel dizzy, he slowly wandered over to the three in his dazed state where Akira stopped him from falling on his face by supporting him by the shoulders. 

“Uh, sorry man… I don’t swing that way.” The frizzy hair boy quipped with a shrug. 

Before Kyotaro could attempt a wittier response, both of their clothes disappeared. Wait, no… Their strange clothes were _returned_ to their Shujin uniforms in a flash of blue light, yeah that sounded less lewd and more accurate. 

The prankster asked in disbelief, “What… just happened?”

“Dude, I’ve been asking that same question since we got here… ” Ryuji sighed in exasperation before he turned to the monster cat. “But hey! Monamona!”

“It’s Morgana!” 

“Whatever, where’s that exit out of here?” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“We’re here!” Morgana announced once they arrived at the end of a corridor in the castle, Ryuji gave a relieved sigh as he went over to the door to the right.

“Finally! We’re saved‒” He tried pulling the door open, he then tried pushing it, he tried jiggling the knob open‒ WHY WON’T IT OPEN?! 

Ryuji turned around to growl at the cat, “It’s not openin’. D’you trick us you jerk?!”

“Don’t jump to conclusions!” Morgana moved over to the room left of them, “Over here!”

The three ran over to where the cat was, by another wall with shelves of books and… _a vent!_

“How are we supposed to get out of this place from here? There aren’t any windows!” Ryuji exclaimed. Before he could continue on with his rant, Kyotaro tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the vent above one of the shelves. “Oooh…” 

“Hm, at least one of you guys is aware of your surroundings.” Morgana sighed and shook his head, “You guys should be able to squeeze through it one at a time, just take off that ventilation mesh and you should be fine.”

Ryuji and Kyotaro shared incredulous looks before getting up onto the shelf to reach the vent, the bleach blonde going first with Kyotaro following after him while Akira stayed behind for a bit to speak with the cat. 

“So, you’re not coming with?” Akira scratched the side of his head as he asked the cat.

“I still have work to do here. We’re gonna have to go our separate ways for now.” Morgana shrugged before gesturing for Akira to follow his companions. 

“Thanks for your help,” Akira said before escaping through the vent, leaving the cat to muse aloud by himself. 

“Those three seem useful. Especially the frizzy hair one, if my judgment’s correct.” He reflected on his ability to wield his persona Arsene with quite the showcase of some skill, “Weirdo has a bit of talent as well, but his persona seems to be… missing a few things.”

* * *

**April 11th: Monday**

**Early Morning**

**Location: Aoyama-Itchome**

* * *

“Did we make it?” Ryuji asked with his hands on his knees, the three of them were in public with several people around them and no castle in sight. _So it was an immense mystery if they made it or not…_ _Ooooh._

 _“You have returned to the real world. Welcome back.”_ Akira pulled his phone out from his pocket to see where the voice came from. Is… this what that app did? 

“Huh? Returned? Does that mean, we got away?” Ryuji asked through his breaths as he turned to Akira.

“Probably… Don’t know exactly how though… ” Akira took a lock of his curly hair and twirled it around his finger as he showed the blonde boy the strange app on his phone. “I think it might be this app on my phone, It just randomly showed up one day. Actually, I think it might have been the thing that got us to that castle… _I think._ ” 

“Ya’ think? Ugh… What about you, Wata‒ Wha? Where did he go?” The bleach blonde turned his head to see that the little twerp was, in fact, gone without a trace. “Did he just ditch us?! What’s even going on?! That castle, Kamoshida, that cat, and you two pulling out those weird ghost things! The hell’s going on?! ”

“Hey, what’s with all the yelling here?” Two officers walked over to the two Shujin students, looking to be quite belligerent based on the looks on their faces. The two police took notice of their uniforms which caused their expressions to become tenser. “Are you students of Shujin? So… Cutting class are we?”

“What? No!” Ryuji vehemently denied and leaned forward to the cops, not thinking about what he was going to say as he let out. “We were tryin’ get to school, and we ended up at this weird castle!”

“A castle, huh? Alright, hand over the bag. I better not find any drugs in there.” A reasonable response… Akira sighed at how Ryuji ran his mouth without any hindsight as to what could be interpreted from his words. 

The officer on the left looked over to Akira, “Are you his friend?”

“Yeah, uh… My friend here got a little sick before school, y’ know? I told him he should have stayed home and called for a check-up at the doctor’s, but he insisted on going anyway and he must have taken too much medication!” Akira lied through his teeth with a laugh, it was either that or they kept going with the whole ‘castle’ story. 

“He must be talking about that large building we passed by! But it looks like the effects are wearing off, so we’ll just be going now! Come on Ryuji! Let’s go!”

“H-Hey wait a minute!” Ryuji protested as Akira dragged him by the arm.

“Right… Make sure he gets there safe.” The cops nodded as the two of them went on their way to Shujin, going through the alleyway once again. 

Ryuji looked at Akira incredulously, “Why did’ ya go and lie like that?”

“Would _you_ honestly believe that we stumbled into a castle, were captured, then escaped with the help of a bipedal cat with a sword?”

“I… Yeah, ok. That’s fair.”


	5. One Hell of A Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three have escaped the castle, however several questions still linger.

**Day: April 11th: Monday**

**Time: After Lunch**

**Location: Shujin Academy; Room 2-E**

* * *

“So why were you late, Watanabe-Kun?”

“Diarrhea…” 

“Okay, just… just take your seat.” Ms. Chouno’s eyes drifted to the side at Kyotaro’s excuse. Ah the good old classic way of getting out of trouble, make the conversation awkward enough so that no one wants to talk about it. His homeroom teacher quickly added before he made his way to his desk, “And take better care of yourself next time… ” 

He simply shrugged at his teacher’s advice and took his seat in the front of the row furthest from the right, he examined his classmates’ reactions towards his late arrival. That is… they had _no reaction_. Kyotaro noticed how the most he got from them were a few split-second glances before turning away, but he did get a few interesting things out of them from their loud whispers. 

“Did you hear about the new transfer student?”

“The one who was arrested for assault, right?”

“I heard he carries around a knife and smokes.”

“I think I heard something about him being a part of the Yakuza…” 

“Ugh… Why would they let someone like that here in Shujin?”

Well, to be fair… Shujin wasn’t too far off from ‘prisoner’. So it was kinda fitting for them to take in such a student. Hm, wait… he never saw Kurusu around Shujin before. And he wasn’t one to forget a face, really? He was this transfer student with a criminal record? That guy looked as innocent as they came, maybe another transfer student was here in Shujin?… 

“Psst… Psst…” Kyotaro turned his head to see Sakamoto in the seat behind him, trying to covertly get his attention. He quietly told him. “Meet me on the rooftops, I wanna talk about… _y’ know what._ ”

Kyotaro shrugged and slightly bobbed his head since it was probably in his best interest to discuss that whole thing with Sakamoto. A creepier version of Kamoshida, a castle, and that weird cat thing calling himself Morgana. It seemed all too odd to even be real… 

He looked over to the students on the other side of the room once they saw him and Sakamoto whispering to each other, small murmurs trying to analyze what their relationship was based on this little interaction. Mostly surprised at the two of them somewhat getting along after Kyotaro’s prank on the ex-track member. 

“What’s up with them? I thought they hated each other’s guts?”

“Eh, it was more Sakamoto wanting to kill Watanabe and him trying to run away whenever they met face to face but yeah. It’s still surprising.”

“The brute and the jackass, not a good combination for us if they are getting along…” 

What pleasing nicknames… Though Sakamoto wasn’t as appreciative of their pet names based on the look he gave the mouthy students. 

"Alright class, it's time to begin! The volleyball rally will begin in two days so prepare yourselves for that.” Ms. Chouno clapped her hands together to gather her students’ attention, involuntarily easing up the tension in the room coming from the bleach blonde.

Volleyball, huh? Then that meant that the whole school was gonna watch Kamoshida flash around his authority like a whore. _Yay…_

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Hey, Sakamoto…”

“Dude, just call me Ryuji‒ I don’t care about formalities much, alright _Kyotaro_?”

“Got it, _Ryuji…_ Are you still mad about the locker prank? Because I swear that wasn’t meant for you.”

“Just forget about it, now let me ask you a question… How the hell did ya sneak away when we got outta that castle?”

“I just walked away…” 

“Seriously? That it?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised nobody noticed me entering school…”

The two were making idle chatter as they waited for Akira to arrive on the rooftop of the school, Ryuji leaned back onto his chair and placed a foot onto the table. He swayed his head nonchalantly as he waited for time to pass by while Kyotaro was busy looking at his phone, the blonde looked over to see his brow shoot up in surprise. 

“What’s wrong?” Ryuji asked, leaning in to examine the contents of what was on his screen that he showed him. What he saw was an odd app logo in red and the symbol of an eye with a star for an iris. The blonde looked at him incredulously, “So… you want me to see this weird app of yours?” 

“No, that’s not it. It just randomly showed up on my P.A.D.” Kyotaro shook his head, he chewed his bottom lip as he looked over his phone. “You think it’s a virus?”

“Hm…” Ryuji took a closer examination at the strange app, his eyes popping nearly popping out of his head at the familiar logo. “I think Akira has this app! Yeah, he said that this app was‒”

“Yo…” Speak of the devil and he will appear. Akira lazily greeted as he walked out of the door to the roof. Ryuji leaned back onto his chair while Kyotaro slouched his back and intertwined his fingers together as the transfer walked over to them. He rubbed the back of his neck and asked, “Any reason you called me up here?”

“Yeah, I wanna talk to both of you about what happened…” Ryuji’s brows creased as he thought back to that castle, _and that son of a bitch Kamoshida…_ But he turned to Akira before moving the discussion to that. “You’re in Kawakami’s homeroom right? I bet she already told you stuff like ‘don’t get involved with him’ right?”

“She said you’re trouble.” Akira rubbed the back of his neck and awkwardly averted Sakamoto’s gaze, he gave a quick glance to Watanabe before averting his gaze as well. “I also overheard some stories about you as well, most of them were… unpleasant.” 

“Heh, better than I thought it would be!” Kyotaro snapped his fingers and gave a wide smile, causing the probationer to crack a smile while Ryuji let out an amused exhale from his nose.

“I guess we’re all in the same boat. I heard you got a criminal record,” Ryuji turned in his seat and leaned forward as he looked at Akira square in the eyes. “Everyone won’t shut up about it, no wonder you were gutsy…”

“Yeah, about that…” Kyotaro leaned in forward with wide eyes filled with great interest as he asked of the transfer student. “So what are you in for? Theft? Murder? Or were you framed by the Yakuza in order to keep suspicious off their backs after you discovered‒”

A swift smack to the back of his head got him to stop running his mouth. The blonde who smacked him sighed, “Shuddup, Kyotaro…” 

“Fine…” He huffed with an exaggerated cross of his arms before getting serious, he looked over to Akira with an uncharacteristically tense gaze. “So you got any idea what happened back there? The castle, that cat Morgana, and those things that came out of us… It felt too surreal to be true, but it is! Me and Ryuji have been bouncing a few ideas but we still don’t have much of an understanding.”

“To be honest?” Akira took a lock of his curled hair and began twiddling between his fingertips. “No clue either, except maybe those things we had… Persona, that’s what they’re called and I think mine said that it was… me.”

“Da’ hell are you on about?” Kyotaro asked with his head tilting to the side. Akira only shook his head at his question and sighed.

“Got no other idea beyond that, did yours speak as well?” The prankster confirmed Akira’s question with a nod and scratched the left side of his face.

“Mhm, but it was pretty vague about what it said. Something about not having its true power or something, I dunno.” He shrugged before continuing, “I got distracted when we were killing those monsters back at the castle.”

“Yeah, and about that.” Ryuji joined in the conversation, finally being able to get to a topic he could actually talk about. He looked over to Akira and gave him a grateful smile. “I want to thank you for savin’ my ass back in that cell. I mean, maybe it was all just some sort of dream but you still save me back there so thanks…”

“And, I want to say sorry about bailing on you guys…” Kyotaro rubbed the back of his head as he averted his eyes to the ground. “If it wasn’t for Kurusu… I‒ I’m sorry.”

“I understand,” Kyotaro’s eyes widened at Akira’s tone, it was as if the fact that he abandoned them when they were about to die didn’t matter and was just a trivial mistake. “We were in a bad situation.”

“Yeah…” Ryuji nodded his head and rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed, “Besides, I’m the one who told you guys to run. Honestly, I was trying to sound cool and shit but I was effin’ scared.” 

Kyotaro gave both of them a smile of appreciation, he felt a weight being lifted off of him for their lack of scorn towards his action back at the castle. 

The bleach blonde of the group looked over to Akira with brows furrowed in thought, “That Kamoshida there… You prolly don’t know about it but there are some rumors going around about him.”

“Right, that ‘king’ of the castle.” Akira rubbed his chin while Ryuji scoffed at the mention of him being a king.

“Yeah, the ripped mophead. That asshole who was all full of himself at the castle. No one says anything against him cause he’s some medalist who took the volleyball team to nationals. The way Kamoshida was king of that castle felt crazy real ‘cause of that…” He paused for a moment, eyes glancing between the two on the roof with him. “...I wonder if we can go back to that castle again…”

“Hell. No.” Kyotaro jumped into the conversation with a tense voice, he pounded his fist into an open hand like a mallet. “If we can do that, that doesn’t mean we _should_. Remember how we almost died, and besides… How are we gonna get back there?” 

“Good point,” Ryuji sighed, but it seemed like he knew something that he didn’t. As did Akira based on how the two shared uneven glances. The bleach blonde scoffed before he could rack his brain further, “Ugh! Forget it, it was all a dream. It has to be!”

“That we all shared?” Akira raised his brow with a sly smirk causing Ryuji to flinch back.

“Is this like some spiritual bond between us?” Kyotaro joined in on ribbing Ryuji, laying his arm around his neck and onto his shoulder as he leaned against him. “Are we destined to each other like some blood-pact? Or perhaps we were once comrades in a past life and now fate has reunited us once more?”

“Shuddup, Watanabe! You know what I mean!” Ryuji sat up from his chair with a huff. “Let’s just try to ignore what happened and go about business as usual. And hey, I think we all might get along. With us being ‘troublemakers’ and all… But if I see a bug in my locker again.”

“Got it! Jeez, I thought we moved past that!” Kyotaro raised his arms up in defeat and began breaking out the apologies. “I’m sorry for the 100th time that I filled your locker with _fake_ roaches and that I filled the track team’s shoes with bean paste that one time.”

“THAT WAS YOU?!” 

“O-Oh jeez! I didn’t- uh… Hahahaha! Funny story huh? Right, Ryuji?”

* * *

**Day: April 11th: Monday**

**Time: Afternoon**

**Location: Aoyama-Itchome Station**

* * *

“So, you live in Yongen-Jaya too?” Akira asked the boy an inch shorter than him as they waited for the train‒ Kyotaro was currently rubbing his right bicep after Ryuji slugged him one after the revelation of his prank. And damn did it look like it hurt, Ryuji was a bit brawnier than the prankster so he had that over him‒ and once his knuckles made contact, Akira could have sworn he heard a pop from his arm.

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to drop by for some sugar every now and then.” Kyotaro weakly quipped before the train showed up in front of them. They two of them stepped into the train and took their seats amongst a large number of passengers and continued their conversation. “So you transferred here because of ‘you know what’?”

“Yeah,” Akira gave a short nod of appreciation for Kyotaro keeping the whole probation thing a secret in public. “My parents sent me here to live with a friend of theirs, he’s the owner of Cafe Leblanc‒ if you heard of that.”

“Oh yeah, Sakura-san…” Kyotaro voiced the man’s name, his aunt was a frequent customer of his. The guy seemed cool enough based on the few interactions he had with him. “I’ve been there a few times, cool dude for an old guy.” 

“Hm, yeah…” Akira’s eyes drifted to the side, leaving a pregnant pause between them before suddenly speaking up. “And hey, how about we trade numbers? Y’know since I get the feeling we’ll be spending more time together.”

“Yeah, I’m flattered but I don’t swing that way…” Kyotaro said with a smirk as he leaned back in his seat, but he wasn’t expecting Akira’s lips to curl as well.

“Nice try, but you copied my joke.”

“Wha‒ No, I didn’t!”

“I believe I said that first when you fell into my arms…” The frizzy-haired teen rubbed his chin as he made sure to put an emphasis on those last couple of words.

“Whatever! Just gimme your phone!” Kyotaro demanded with a huff, Akira complying with a short titter as he passed the shorter teen his phone. He punched in the number and gave it back with a nonchalant face before giving a short quip. “Just don’t call around 8 or 9 pm, that’s the rule.”

“Sure, whatever.” Akira laughed, the two looked over to see the train’s recent arrival and the doors opening up with people flooding out and into it.

“You know…” Kyotaro began as the two of them got on the train, he sat beside Akira on the train where he leaned back in his seat in a laid-back manner‒ looking towards him with a small smile. “You don’t seem like what the rumors are making you out to be.”

“Mhm, thanks.” Akira nodded with a grin, “You don’t seem that bad either, despite being this so-called jackass of Shujin.”

“Hey, I wear that title with pride!” Kyotaro puffed up his chest and pounded a fist against it in an exaggerated manner. 

Heh, it was nice to know that a few people at Shujin didn’t hate his guts.

* * *

**I am thou, Thou art I**

**Thou hast established a new vow**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion**

**That breaketh thy chains of captivity**

**With the birth of the Jester Persona,**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and a new power**

* * *

“Something wrong?” Kyotaro asked, noticing how Akira’s eyes glanced back and forth on the train. The frizzy-haired boy looked to be searching for something but didn't know what.

He quickly brought himself back to reality and gave Kyotaro an uneven nod of his head, “Y-yeah… I was just spacing out there.”

What the hell was that…? 

* * *

**April 11th: Monday**

**Time: Evening**

**Location: Watanabe Residence**

* * *

“Hey, Aunt Ayaka… I’m home.” Kyotaro weakly said as he slowly trod into his house, he feigned a smile that faltered under the pressure as he saw his aunt give him a cold stare from her seat. 

“Funny, you’re quite late…” She said as she nonchalantly took a sip from her coffee cup from her chair near the kitchen counter. Ayaka opened her eyes to reveal a cold glare, “I guess that makes it _twice today?_ ”

“Okay… Let me explain, I had a bad case of‒”

“Don’t bother lying to me, I know you. _I raised you_ _to lie_ …” She said with a hand slapping against her chest to exaggerate her point. “And ignoring the implications of that, I know when you’re lying to me. So either tell the truth or I burn your sketchbooks…”

Crap! Those had years worth of work! He couldn’t lose those, though it was most likely she was exaggerating to intimidate him… But he wasn’t going to take that chance! But he couldn’t tell the truth! Wait, she did teach him a little skill that was a part of lying. Half-truths! Alright, here goes… 

“I met two guys on my way to school, we got into a bit of trouble that’s a bit hard to explain. Long story short, we were stuck for a while until someone helped us out. We weren’t doing anything wrong, we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Kyotaro silently gulped, it was vague but it was the truth. 

“Alright… Fine, but don’t be late for school again kiddo.” She ruffled his hair and sighed as she made her way to the table where there were two plates of tonkatsu laid out. 

The teen quickly moved over to the table and dug in as soon as his fingers touched his chopsticks. As he stuffed his face and forgone table manners, his aunt asked him a question as she twirled her utensils. “So these two guys you met, are they your friends?”

“I prefer posse,” Kyotaro laughed as he tilted his chopsticks in a showy manner before answering honestly. “No, they aren’t friends. Just some guys I ran into, one of them I accidentally pranked.”

“Right…” Ayaka sighed at the mention of her nephew’s pranks, god the number of phone calls they got. It was a surprise he didn’t get suspended after he hung those skeletons around campus… Lucky for them, Shujin was resilient with even their most troublesome of students. “Don’t do any more of those this year, got it?” 

“I won’t! I promise I don’t do that anymore!” He raised his right hand as if he were swearing under oath. His aunt gave a stern nod and smiled.

“Good, I’m glad we got that out of the way…”

Kyotaro crashed onto his large bed, he pushed aside the stacks of notebooks in front of his drawer to pull out a thick book that readout ‘No Longer Human’. A favorite of his, it wasn’t an easy read with the subject matter but he couldn’t stop coming back to it. He was introduced to the book by his uncle, who considered it to be the reason why he was an author in the first place. Funny how such a depressing book inspired an author known for his cheerful stories. 

The boy looked down at another book that the one in his hands was previously on top of, ‘Finding Paradise - Ryunosuke Tanizaki’ it said. Still in its packaging even after all these years...

Well, no matter‒ back to the book in his hands. But before he could even turn the page, the sound of his phone ringing on top of his drawer demanded his attention. With a lofty sigh, he placed the novel down and picked up his P.A.D. However once his eyes landed on the one who was calling him, with a hard gulp‒ he answered in a shaky voice.

“H-Hey… Makoto, what’s up?”

 _“I think you know, ‘What is up’...”_ She spoke in a frigid tone as she laid down her judgment upon Kyotaro over the cell.

“Ok, before you say anything… I got real‒”

 _“Don’t bother lying to me, I know when you do it.”_ Crap! She knew too?!

“Alright, I’m sorry that I left you hanging‒ but it wasn’t my fault! I ran into a bit of trouble and I was stuck. You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine…" 

A long pause between them caused Kyotaro to be on edge. A quiet sigh from Makoto luckily broke the silence, _"Is that so? Well, I hope that this is the last time it happens. I can't look after you all the time, y' know?"_

"What are you, my mom?" Kyotaro gave an airy laugh, "When was it your responsibility to look after me?"

 _"Since you arrived at Shujin."_ Makoto snickered a bit causing Kyotaro to sigh.

“Whatever… Uh, Mako?” His mouth acted faster than his mind did, he wanted to ask her about Kamoshida and Akira-kun since she was the student council president– she must have known more about them. But it didn’t feel right just to suddenly ask her that...

_“Hm? Do you need something?”_

“I… forget it. Bye, I’ll talk to you later.” With an awkward farewell, the two of them ended their call. 

But Kyotaro thought it would be a good idea to give his newest contact a quick greeting. 

* * *

**[Kyo W.] Hey, is this Kurusu-san?**

**[Akira K.] What’s up Watanabe-san?**

**[Kyo W.] Hey, you can call me Kyotaro. Or Kyo, whatever floats your boat**

**[Kyo W.] I don’t care much about formalities so don’t go fretting over that, anyways I need a little info on this app**

**[Akira K.] Same, you can just call me Akira. But what app are you talking about?**

**[Kyo W.] This weird app with this eye logo, Ryuji said you have it as well**

**[Kyo W.] So is it like some sort of virus or something? Because I don’t remember downloading anything out of the norm**

**……**

**[Kyo W.] Akira-Kun? You there? You haven’t responded in a while.**

**[Akira K.] Yeah, I just spaced out there**

**[Akira K.] But I’m pretty sure it’s not a virus**

**[Kyo W.] Well, what does it do? Is it part of a new update for the P.A.D.?**

**[Akira K.] No, it's a little hard to explain over text but you can't delete it**

**[Kyo W.] That’s bull** **(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ┻━┻**

**[Akira K.] I’ll explain whatever I know tomorrow alright?**

**[Kyo W.] Whatever you say but what was with those persona things? And those costumes?**

**[Akira K.] Got no idea, but I'm sure we'll figure it out**

**[Kyo. W.] Aight, good night man. See you at school**

**[Akira K.] ‘Night**

* * *

“Huh?” Akira found himself awake on a hard surface, his wrists and ankles were bound by chains‒ he was in this place again. 

The Velvet room with that crazy looking guy with the pencil nose and those two twins. He heaved himself up and sat from the edge of the board serving as a bed.

“...About time you come to.” The twin with her snow-white hair tied into two buns, named Caroline, scoffed. “On your feet inmate!” 

With a dazed head, Akira slowly moved from the bed and walked over to the bars. Where the master of this room, who calls himself Igor, looked over to his detained state with his Cheshire smile. 

Justine, the twin with her white hair tied into a braided pony-tail, brought Akira’s attention to her with her more delicate voice‒ though she had a bit of condescension ‒that contrasted her sister’s piqued tone whenever she addressed him. “Our master wishes to speak with you. It’s for your own sake that you take his word to heart.”

“First off, let us celebrate our reunion. Oh…?” He widened his eyes a bit to show his shock, yet his large smile didn’t falter. “You’ve awakened to your powers. And special ones at that. Your rehabilitation can finally begin.”

“Right… Persona? That's what it was called right?” Akira rubbed the side of his head as he still held onto the bars. He asked the warden, “What are they?”

The odd man laughed, “There is no need to understand it all, for the time being. Just know that these powers are what you’ll be training in. Personas are, in other words, a “mask”-an armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters.”

“By the by… have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator? Using it will allow you to come and go between reality and Palaces.” 

“Metaverse Navigator?” Akira repeated until his eyes widened in realization, “You mean that app on my phone?”

The strange man laughed into the back of his hand, “Yes, it was I who had that installed onto your device. I bestowed it onto you to train you as a thief.”

He paused for a bit, his eyes were closed as he tilted his head down to his hands folded together. Igor spoke in what seemed like an amused tone that attempted to hide behind a composed aura. “And I see that you have forged a partnership of sorts, with one who shares the same power as you.”

“Partnership? Do you mean Kyotaro?” 

“Involving yourself with others is an important foundation for your recovery. You’ve done well. That said, I am not advising the formation of superficial relationships. It must not be of frivolity, but a ring of those, who would, by morals or faith, lend you their strength. In other words, they are bonds with those who have been robbed of their places to belong. The expansion of said ring will, in return, help you mature as well.” 

He paused for a bit, his smile could be seen twitching upwards for a second there until he was able to compose himself before he addressed the inmate. “However your first _confidant_ , let’s call them, is an interesting one. His powers are unique much like yours, soon you will see what I mean. I can not share any further explanation beyond that.”

“What do you mean?” Akira furrowed his brows, this man’s choice of delivering exposition whenever he wished was starting to get on his nerves. 

“Personas are the strength of the heart…” Justine joined into the conversation, almost seeming to get the subject off Kyotaro’s ‘power’. “The stronger the bonds that surround you, the more power your Personas will gain. And the bonds you share with others will also grant them strength‒ a symbiotic relationship if you will.”

“There are countless people in the city who have talents that a weakling like you doesn’t.” Caroline huffed with her hands on her waist. “You better rack that noggin of yours and get them on your side. We’ll change that into power.”

“Jeez, all Tsun‒ no Dere…” Akira sighed and shook his head.

“What was that, Inmate?!” 

“N-nothing, ma’am.” He blurted out in a quiet voice and flinched back seeing her raise her nightstick. Jeez’ for a kid, she was scary… 

“Well, now with that settled…” Igor crossed his leg over the other as he nodded towards his inmate. “I believe we have a deal then, allow us to forge a vow. And may the power I give you aid you in your rehabilitation.”

Wow… It seems like Igor had some high expectations of him, better not let him down.

* * *

**I am thou, Thou art I**

**Thou hast established a new vow**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion**

**That breaketh thy chains of captivity**

**With the birth of the Fool Persona,**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and a new power**

* * *

That voice in his head… So that’s what he meant by forging.

“Well, you will understand it all in due time…” Igor laughed in a muffled volume, “Continue devoting yourself to your rehabilitation.”

“Now this conversation’s over! Get lost, Inmate!” Caroline demanded of the frizzy-haired teen, causing him to flinch back in surprise‒ his eyes darted around the cell in confusion.

“Wait, I have so many more questions!‒”

He wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before his vision began to darken and his body began to lose that same weight he had when he was in that room. He opened his eyes to see the dark wooden roof of Cafe LeBlanc over his head and that he was no longer in that prison outfit

As Akira sat himself up, his mind began thinking back to what Igor and those twins said. The word still ingrained into his mind. 

Confidants… 


	6. Back to the Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three hesitantly return to the castle, looking to find some answers about what is really going on around Shujin.

_It seems you have awakened to your powers, yet they have not yet come to fruition_

Ah, you again‒ Mr. mysterious voice in my head, how may I serve you today?

_Mm… I see you’re still fond of jokes._

Yeah… And hey, do you know what that thing that came out of me was? Still clueless here… 

_They are called Persona, a “mask” that will protect you when you confront other-worldly threats. Yet yours is cloaked in a veil, I can sense a potent power similar to that of my guest._

Guest? Who’s this guest?

_Unfortunately, I can not tell you about his identity. Just know that you are on the right path to aiding him in his journey._

What am I? A side piece?

_No, nothing of the sort‒ My guest’s destiny and yours are intertwined. By helping him will he help you._

That seems pretty sketchy but I guess I’ll just go along with it… 

_I’m pleased with your cooperation, do not falter in your journey and please do find your true power._

* * *

**April 12th: Tuesday**

**Early Morning**

**Location: Aoyama-Itchome Station**

* * *

“Hey, Akira…” Kyotaro greeted the frizzy-haired teen at the Ginza Line, he gave a short wave of his hand before turning his attention back to the front of the railway. The two of them were in a small group of Shujin Students waiting for the train to school, of course, that meant that they got a few dirty looks‒ well Akira mostly did while they tried to ignore Kyotaro.

“Hey, that girl with the red ribbon...” A female student beside them mused at the sight of the girl in front of the group. 

She was dressed in the standard winter Shujin uniform with black tights. The girl had snow-white skin and her crimson red hair was tied up into a ponytail by a red ribbon. 

“That girl?” The male beside her asked, rubbing his chin in thought. Kyotaro could have sworn he saw his lips curl into a smile as he got a glance of her. “She popular or something? I don’t remember her around Shujin, but dang...”

“I think she might be another transfer…” The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance. “She’s so skinny… W-well, I have my hair tied up too. So she isn’t anything special.”

“What are you talking about?”

“N-nothing…”

“Another transfer huh?” Kyotaro nudged Akira by the arm with a wry smile. “Two of a kind, huh pal?” 

“Uh… Sure? I guess, what are you getting at?” Akira’s eyes glanced back and forth as he feared what Kyotaro was insinuating.

“Nothing, don’t you think it’s weird how we got two transfers here at Shujin. It’s almost like… fate,” Oh boy… _Here it comes._

“This might be related to that weird reality thing!”

Yep, of course, he had‒ _What…_

“What…” Akira asked incredulously, it was as if you went to the circus expecting clowns in a car then you immediately got an opera cast singing Barber of Seville. Basically, he wasn’t expecting _THAT_ of all things. He was expecting‒ Forget it… 

“Think about it, what are the odds of two transfers in a row? It has to be‒ Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I… Forget it,” Akira quickly said as he averted his eyes away. 

He took a quick glance at the new transfer student who still had her eyes on the train‒ She seemed to have deafened her ears with how she paid next to no attention to the conversations centered around her. Her cherry-red eyes seemed to be devoid of life, contrasting their bright color. As soon as the train arrived, her eyes seemingly illuminated and she walked into the car with a small hop in her step 

Akira said in a whispered breath as he walked into the car beside Kyotaro, “Strange girl…” 

“I’m serious, what are the odds of that happening?” Kyotaro asked, still on the subject of two transfers at Shujin in the same week.

“Mm-hm…” Akira kept his eyes on the red-haired girl, unbeknownst to her as her eyes were dulled in a catatonic like gaze. But she woke up with a blink as she noticed that there was an elderly woman in front of her seat.

“Oh! You can take my seat, I’ll be off anyway…” She dipped her head in a bow as she addressed the woman, the girl raised herself with her hands folded in front of her. 

“Well, what a kind girl!” The lady cooed with a grateful smile. “Very well I’ll‒” 

And soon as she accepted the girl’s offer, a well-suited man beside them took the seat she offered without uttering a single word. The red-haired girl flinched back in surprise, “S-so fast! Um… Mr? I think- um... Oh, dear‒”

“Hey come on, don’t be a dick!” She flinched even further once Kyotaro jumped into the conversation, Akira held him back before he could talk further. 

“What he meant to say, was that you shouldn’t have‒”

“Zzzzz…” The man’s head dipped and his body immediately went limp, causing the three Shujin students to sweatdrop.

“You’re sleeping!?” 

“Shut up, Kyo!” Akira hissed out as he held a hand over Kyotaro’s mouth. 

“No, no! It’s okay, let’s not get worked up over this‒ please?” The red-haired girl bowed her head to the two of them before turning to the elderly lady. “I’m sorry, I don’t think he’s getting up.”

“It’s quite alright, dear.” The old woman shook her head with a smile as he tightened her grip onto her bag over her shoulder. “I’m fine with standing until my stop.”

“Well, at least let me carry your bag for you until I get off.” The girl offered as if she wanted to make up for something that wasn’t her fault. As the two began to talk about the offer, Akira and Kyotaro began to start up a conversation in the background.

“Nice girl, she’s the transfer huh?” Akira rubbed his chin in muse, as he saw the girl hold the bag for the old woman with a smile.

“So what? You planning on asking her out or something?” Kyotaro tapped his temple with a wry smile as he asked in a playful tone.

“You son of a‒”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Hey!” As they made their way out of Aoyama-Itchome station, the girl’s voice rang behind them in a chipper tone, they turned around to see her practically skip over to them. “I wanted to thank you two for trying to get the seat back from that man. Oh? You guys go to Shujin as well?” The two nodded, eliciting a small titter from the girl. 

“Right, I’m Kasumi Yoshizawa. I’m transferring to Shujin Academy as a first-year.” She blinked a bit once she noticed the pins on their jackets. “Hm, so you two are second-years. I guess that would make you my senpais, huh?”

“Yep, the name’s Kyotaro Watanabe and my buddy’s name Akira Kurusu!” He jumped into a greeting fast, shaking the girl’s slender hands. “Though you can call me Kyo-senpai if you want.”

“What happened to not caring about formalities?” Akira hissed into his ear with a judgmental gaze as he pulled him back. 

“Well, when a cute girl calls you senpai‒ you just kinda accept it.” He rubbed his chin with his finger and thumb, an evil smile crept up onto his face. Akira sighed at his newest friend’s… _perverted_ side as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The two of them spun back around to face the girl who was currently folding her hands behind her back.

“I wanted to apologize for not introducing myself back on the train,” She scratched the side of her cheek with an awkward giggle. “That was pretty rude of me.”

“It’s fine,” Akira waved off with his brows raised in surprise as to how polite she was being to them. He held out a hand to which she immediately shook, “As a fellow transfer, I hope you have a good time at Shujin.”

“O-Oh! Thank you, Akira-Senpai!” She bowed her head to the frizzy-haired teen before looking over to Kyotaro, only her eyes seemed to have dulled a bit in their gleam once her eyes landed on him but she still retained formality. 

“And I hope to see you again as well, Kyo-Senpai.” 

She began walking out the station in front of them and slowly began pulling out her umbrella from her bag. Akira's eyes lingered on her with a slight glint of intrigued, Kyotaro rubbed his chin seeing this.

“Cute girl, she’s sweet and polite.” Kyotaro mused and scratched his cheek as they saw her walk up the stairs. “But I think she’s a bit more interested in you than I.”

“What are you saying?” Akira gave Kyotaro a death stare as they began walking out of Aoyama-Itchome station. 

“I saw her get all flustered when you two shared a look and she stumbled a bit when she was talking to you,” He shrugged, he looked over to Akira with an awkward glance as he pulled out his umbrella. Getting the signal, Akira held his umbrella higher to shield both of them from the rain. 

Kyotaro continued with his little explanation as they began their trek to school, “If you act fast, you might be able to get a date.”

“I’m not looking for a date, besides with everyone spreading around my criminal record‒ she’s gonna end up hating me like the rest.” He seemed a little downcasted at that, his eyes shifted to the side and a faint scowl could be seen from the side of his face.

“Aw, here lies poor Akira‒ His heart yearns for another yet society steps in the way and forbids him from love.”

“Shut. Up. Kyo…”

* * *

**April 12th: Tuesday**

**Afternoon**

**Location: Shujin Academy**

* * *

“Welp, how was your second day at ‘Prisoner-Academy’?” Kyotaro asked Akira as he made his way out from class 2-E with the two of them meeting up in the hallway in front of class 2-D. 

“Could have gone worse,” The transfer shrugged with his hands in his pockets. “I was actually able to impress most of the class when I was picked on by Mr. Ushimaru.”

“Aw, good for you champ!” Kyotaro spoke in a voice similar to that of a proud father and patted Akira on the back. The spectacled teen sighed as people gave the two of them looks. “And how about we get some ice cream for your accomplishments?”

“Hey there Takamaki…” The two of them looked over to the stairs where they saw the blonde model of Shujin, Takamaki-san, with… _Kamoshida_. 

The gym teacher gave an overly happy smile as he talked to the passive looking girl. “You looking for a ride home? Things have been pretty dangerous with all those accidents.”

 _Right, those accidents… People going crazy like that conductor in Shibuya. Ever since those came into the light of the public, people have been extremely cautious around Tokyo._ But even with that bit of information address, Takamaki-san seemed to be extremely against riding home with Kamoshida.

“Sorry, I have a photoshoot today.” _Nice excuse, pulling out the ‘job’ card._ “It’s for the special summer issue, so I can’t afford to miss it…” 

“Hey, now…” _Eugh, the way he said that even seemed suggestive_. “Being a model’s fine and dandy, but don’t work your pretty little self to the bone. You mentioned you weren’t feeling well, right? Something about appendicitis?”

“Yes, I keep planning to go to the hospital, but I’ve been too busy…” She tried averting her gaze away from him, but he kept his eyes all over her. “Sorry to worry you.”

“You must be lonely too. I feel bad for keeping your best friend at practice so often. That’s why I asked you out in the first place.” He paused for a bit, with his finger placed on his sharp chin before clicking his tongue. “Oh, and… be careful around that transfer student. He’s got a criminal record, after all. If something were to happen to you…”

_Douchebag…_

“...Thank you. Please excuse me.” Takamaki-san quickly walked away from the teacher, who was still wearing that exaggerated smile. 

Only dropping it until she turned the corner, but once he turned around to see Kyotaro and Akira‒ He brought it back, faker than before as he walked over to the brown-haired teen. “Watanabe, how’s it going?”

“Pretty good…” He shrugged, Kamoshida nodded with his plastered smile. But it faltered a bit when he glanced over to Akira. Seeing this, Kyotaro tried getting his attention onto him and away from the transfer. "So teach, how are you gonna prepare for the volleyball rally?"

"Prepare? Don't need to!" He laughed with his hands on his hips. "The students here are a bit rusty at best, I may be a teacher but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on them." 

_Didn't expect you to do that even if you weren't_ , the two mentally sighed. If that other Kamoshida was an indicator‒ the one they had at Shujin probably wasn’t too far off. As they were mentally shaking their heads, the PE teacher placed a hand onto Kyotaro’s shoulder and moved him to face away from Akira and whispered into his ear.

“Don’t forget that our little deal is still on the table, remember that I get you better company than a criminal. I’m still waiting for an answer, Watanabe…” He added that last part in a venomous hiss that contradicted his plastered smile. As Kyotaro averted his eyes and nodded‒ Kamoshida’s smile crept up as he let the boy go.

“Stay out of trouble, alright?” He waved off as he walked away in the direction of the faculty office. Kyotaro brushed back his dark brown bangs and gave a hefty sign of relief seeing him out of sight. 

“You okay?” Kyotaro flinched at Akira’s voice, he turned around to see the frizzy-haired teen’s raised brows. He placed a hand onto Kyotaro’s shoulder as he spoke slowly, “Is… there something you need to talk about?”

“No…” He took a deep breath before regaining his closed-eyed smile, “Let’s just head out.” He waved for Akira to follow, but his head could be seen slightly panning back and forth as if he were looking out for something. Or, most likely, he was fearing for another visit from the ‘king’. 

So he shuts himself up whenever Kamoshida is around, huh? Kinda like how everyone else around Shujin… Akira figured. It was a difficult sight to see, a showcase of how much power Kamoshida had. 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Yo.” Ryuji Sakamoto greeted the two of them at the front of the school gate with a drawstring bag slung over his shoulder. 

“Were you waiting for us?” Akira asked with a slight tilt of his head, Sakamoto shrugged in response as he stepped forward in front of the two of them. 

“Yeah, I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday. I tried tellin’ myself it was all just a dream… but I couldn’t do it. I can’t act like nothing happened. It’s all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all. I wanna find out what’s up with that place, no matter what.” Before Ryuji could finish his little speech, Kyotaro decided it was best to add his two cents

“Dude, we almost _died_. Ever heard of the phrase ‘let sleeping dogs lie’?” He leaned forward with a clenched jaw, he jabbed a finger towards him in judgment. “It basically means we ignore it, or else we get ourselves up shit creek.” 

“But you two have those things right? We should be fine!” The blonde defended with a small smile as if the words ‘almost die’ didn’t register in his brain. Kyotaro opened his mouth to bite back but was stopped once Akira stepped up into the conversation. 

“We’ll just check out the castle, then we’ll leave as soon as possible. Alright?” Somehow, as if the frizzy-haired teen cast some weird spell on him‒ he began to see things Ryuji’s way. With a hefty sigh, he nodded his head. Much to Sakamoto’s elation.

“Well, with that settled‒ let’s check that place out!”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Kyotaro placed his hands on his hips and raised his brow, the blonde flinched in surprise at that little detail as he began to stammer for an answer.

“Wait… I think I know the way to get there.” Akira pulled out his phone and gestured for the two to look at his screen. He swiped over to where that weird eye app was, the two beside him blinked at his statement before a wave of realization washed over them. 

“Isn’t that the app‒” Kyotaro cut himself off and pulled out his phone, showing off the same eye app as him. 

He opened it up to see that it had very little features, just a blank map, and a search bar

“Right, you have it too." Ryuji leaned over Kyotaro's shoulder to examine the app with him, but a sudden epiphany popped into his mind once he saw his screen.

"Wait… I think it might be a navigation app, gimme yours for a bit.” The blonde took Akira’s P.A.D. without proper permission, he opened up the app with a large smile on his face as he scrolled through the app. “Oh man, it is a navigation app! There’s even a search history! Am I a genius or what?”

“Oh congrats, how about we give you a typewriter next and see how long until you can write Shakespeare?”

“Shuddup, Watanabe! Let’s just try usin’ it.” Ryuji tapped the screen and pulled out what looked to be a map of the area, though all it showed was Shujin and no other surrounding places. 

_“Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert… Castle… Beginning navigation.”_

“Huh? What the heck was that?” Kyotaro’s eyes widened at the strange list of words that the voice from the phone had uttered in its electronic voice. 

Ryuji was about to take a guess of what it was, but he cut himself off once Akira’s screen began to show a static image of that same eye logo in red. The three looked around to see their vision begging to darken in a filter of purple. Sakamoto gaped, “Huh? What the hell?”

In an odd sensation that felt like a ripple of water washing over their skin and distortions of red filled their sight, the school before them began to change.

* * *

**Location: Other Kamoshida’s Castle**

* * *

“Look! It’s that castle from yesterday!” Ryuji exclaimed as his eyes began scrolling over the stone walls of the fortress. He looked over to the two of them, “If that castle is here, then that meant that what happened yesterday was for real too‒ Huh? What happened to your guys’ clothes!”

The two of them blinked before looking over to each other to see that their clothes did in fact change. Akira’s clothing changed into that sort of gentleman-like outfit while Kyotaro’s transformed into a ringmaster-esque costume. They both looked over their own clothes in subdued awe while Ryuji was still freaking out about it. 

“This happened last time! What’s up with those costumes?!”

“You jelly?” Akira quipped as he placed his hand in his pockets, while Kyotaro rubbed his chin with a large smile.

“I don’t blame you if you do, we do look pretty cool.” He swayed his head with a childish tone with Akira nodding his head in the last part of his sentence.

“You guys actually LIKE those?!” Ryuji widened his eyes and exclaimed, his eyes darted around the area at a frantic speed. “What’s going on here?! This makes no effin’ sense at all!” 

“Hey!” A boyish voice called out to the three from behind a stone wall next to them. It was that Morgana thing, the creature peeked its head before moving over to them. He hissed to Ryuji, “Stop making a commotion!” 

“Ah… You?!” 

The cat explained with a slight grumble, “The shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be.” He shook his head with a sigh, “To think you guys would come back when you barely managed to escape…”

“Wow, it’s like we’re on the same wavelength!” Kyotaro wryly said as he looked over to Ryuji, the blonde giving him a sharp glare and a scoff in response. He cut the act and looked over to Morgana with a serious gaze, “But, what is this place? Is this the school?”

The cat nodded, “That’s right.”

“But it’s a castle!” Ryuji exclaimed, his eyes scanned the large fort in a frantic shock. 

“The castle IS the school,” Morgana explained in a slightly condescending tone, “According to how its ruler sees it."

“Ruler huh? So because Kamoshida sees himself as some kind of king, the school becomes a castle?” Akira guessed with an uncertain voice, but he seemed to be correct based on the look of the cat’s smirk. However, Ryuji wasn’t as pleased as his nails dug into his palms and this revelation of Kamoshida's perception. 

“Yep, the one you guys call Kamoshida‒ this is how his distorted heart views the school.” Kyotaro raised a brow as to how this whole _distorted heart turning the school into a castle_ works, but the cat hasn’t given them a straight answer yet. But it looked like the one most upset about it was Ryuji.

“Kamoshida… Distorted…? This makes no effin’ sense! How does Kamoshida turn the school into a castle?!” He stomped his foot in front of Morgana.

The cat opened his mouth, probably about to give him an answer in a snobbish tone based on how he glared at him, but he was stopped once the sounds of horrific screaming echoed out from the castle in front of them. The four of their eyes widened in shock at the blood-curdling screams of young men.

Ryuji was the one to ask the question all three of them had on their minds, “What was that?”

“It must be the slaves here…” Morgana answered with a sigh.

“F-for real?!” More screaming emerged from the castle, causing Ryuji to stagger backward.

“Oh, shit…” Ryuji cursed as his jaw was left agape. “It’s for real! We saw other guys held captive here yesterday…”

“Most likely on Kamoshida’s orders. It’s nothing out of the ordinary; It’s like that every day here. What’s more, when you three escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit.” And with that, Ryuji lost whatever cool he had, his jaw was clenched and his feet stomped against the ground with force. 

“That son of a bitch!” The blonde ran over to one of the doors of the castle and began slamming into it. “This is bullshit!”

“Ryuji…?”

“You hear me, Kamoshida– You fuckin’ asshole?! I ain’t letting you off!”

“Doing that isn’t going to open it, y’ know!” The cat shook his head and sighed while Akira and Kyotaro looked upon Ryuji’s enraged state in concern. “But it looks like you have your reasons.”

“You have no idea… ” Kyotaro scratched his cheek as he remembered why Ryuji hated Kamoshida’s guts so much. 

That fight, his leg getting broken, the school labeling it as self-defense, and the subsequent shut down of the track team. He wasn’t there but from what he knew about that mop-head, it wasn’t as simple as the school made it out to be.

“Hey, Monamona!” He growled at the cat, still unaware of how to pronounce his name.

“How many times do I have to tell you? _It’s Morgana!_ ”

“Yeah, right… Do you know where those voices are coming from?” Ryuji asked, which meant one thing. _Didn’t it…?_

“You want me to take you to them?” _Of course, he did._ “...Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if those two come with us.” He looked over to Akira and Kyotaro who’s brows shot up in surprise, though it wasn’t like they could be seen doing so with these masks over their eyes… 

“Why? You need adult supervision or something?” Akira slipped his hands into his pockets and deadpanned, much to the annoyance of Morgana.

“ _No._ I want to take a better look at your guys’ powers since you two are the only other Persona users I’ve come across,” The cat explained before looking over to Ryuji, “Even if you don’t come with, I’m sure nothing’s going to stop this guy from rushing on in. Are you really going to leave him?” 

“And are you trying to guilt-trip us?” Kyotaro shot back causing Morgana to flinch, his large eyes darting back and forth as he stammered for a response but he didn’t need to after what Kyotaro said, “But alright, I guess we could check out the place so long as we have a way to defend ourselves. What about you, Akira? You looking for some danger?”

“Sure,” The frizzy-haired teen nodded with a smirk, “I’m actually pretty curious about this power and this whole place in general. Plus, we can’t leave Ryuji out to dry.”

“For real?” The blonde gave a grateful smile towards the two of them, “Thanks, you two…”

“ _Yeah, yeah_.” Kyotaro rubbed the back of his neck with a hefty sign, “But if we die, I’m pissing on your grave.”

“Wait, but you would be dead‒ forget it…” Akira dropped acknowledging the contradiction and looked to Morgana with a stern nod and a glint in his eye.

He gave a mischievous smirk as he pulled his hands out from his pockets, “Where do we begin?”


	7. Infiltration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three begin their path to find answers as to what Kamoshida is doing behind closed doors.

**April 12th: Tuesday**

**Time: After School**

**Location: Other Kamoshida’s Castle**

* * *

The four of them entered the castle through the same vent they used to escape this place, as Morgana had claimed that barging through the front door would be against the basics of 'phantom thievery'. Whatever that meant…

Ryuji tightened his grip onto the drawstring bag and sighed as his eyes scanned the dark corridor of the hallways that were dimly lit by the torches on the wall. “Man, this place is still giving me the creeps…”

“Mm-Hm.” The cat-like creature moved to the front of the three with his hands on his hips. “Now, make sure you do exactly as I say, all right?” The cat took the lead out of the room and ordered before moving to the room right of them. “Follow me!”

After they followed Morgana to the next room, the three of them noticed that the large room with a painting of Kamoshida as a knight above the staircase– was the same room that they first entered through and the same room that Kyotaro awakened to his persona. 

After Ryuji voiced their exact thoughts about the revelation of the area, the room suddenly changed before them– the hallway outside of one of the faculty offices with one of the job bulletin boards had flashed before their eyes but it disappeared as fast as it came, the scene returning to the staircase of the castle. 

“What the...!” Ryuji reeled back in surprise as did Akira and Kyotaro, though they weren’t as vocal about their confusion. “I was seein’ double or something just now! Was that Shujin?!”

“I’ve told you before,” Morgana shook his head in exasperation, “This place is your school. Regardless, we don’t have the time to stand around. Let’s go!” He looked over to the right of the castle where the door to the dungeon was, "Come! Follow me!"

The four ran through the door to the dungeon and descended down the spiral stairs, funny how they were breaking out of this place the first time and now they were breaking in. _Talk about irony._ Once they made it to the bottom, the four of them moved to a gated door frame which led to the path beside the waterfall. Where one of the guards from before was blocking it. Goodie…

“Darn, I had a feeling there would be guards here…” Morgana gritted his teeth as the knight remained diligent in his watch. He looked over to Akira and Kyotaro, “It looks like we won’t be able to avoid conflict from this point forward.”

“F-for real?!” Ryuji said once again, his eyes looking quite wide as he faced Morgana.

“ ‘ k… How are we going to go about this then?” Kyotaro furrowed his brows as his eyes were still set on the sentry that paced back and forth on the path before them.

“We’re going to ambush it– of course,” Morgana announced, he stepped in front of Akira and looked him square in the eye as he began laying out the plan. “These guards are called shadows and as you’ve seen, these knights aren’t their true forms. In order to get the jump on them, you’re going to have to rip off its mask– that’ll daze them for a second which will open them up to attacks. Got it?”

“Y-yeah…” Akira’s eyes glanced back and forth as the cat looked at him expectantly while Kyotaro and Ryuji shared an uneven glance. He gave a hefty sigh before he slowly moved his feet out the gate.

With a hard gulp, the frizzy-hair boy had rushed towards the guard as its back was turned– leaping onto its broad shoulders and digging into the chin of its mask before calling out in an assertive voice, “Show me your true form!” 

At his command, the knight ruptured into a stream of red and black after Akira flipped off of it with his knife drawn. Morgana called for Kyotaro to move in as the streams took the shape of one of those pumpkin heads from before. The two teens and cat took their blades and cut down the monster before it could even make its move. 

“Huh, that was easy…” Kyotaro said as he sheathed his machete, he looked over to Akira and patted him on the shoulder with a smirk. “Nicely done back there, getting the jump on that thing. It was like… something from a movie, y’ know?”

“Yeah, I gotta’ say... You da’ man!” Ryuji congratulated the frizzy-haired teen, who was currently twirling a lock of his hair at the praise– but he could be seen smiling as he cast his head down. 

“Thanks, but shouldn’t we get out of here before more of those guards come by?” Morgana nodded at Akira’s suggestion.

“Right, let’s get to those prisoners before that happens.” 

With simultaneous nods, the four of them moved across the bridge and to where the prison cells were– only to find nothing there…

“Why ain’t anyone here...?” As they moved past the empty cells, Ryuji exclaimed in frustration. “Dammit, they were here before! Where did they go!?”

“Calm down, Ryuji…” Kyotaro sighed as he gestured for the blonde to cool it. “We don’t want any more of those shadow-thingies on us so try to be quiet.”

“Oh… right– yeah,” Ryuji sighed and rubbed the back of his head before something popped into his mind, “There were more of them further in…” Before anyone could get another word in, the blonde boy moved down the chamber to see if there were anyone in the cells.

Morgana sighed, “They might have been transferred already…”

“Really?” Akira rubbed the back of his neck as he looked over to where Ryuji ran off to, “Well, that means we’re just gonna have to–”

“Crap! I can hear footsteps! Lots of them!” Ryuji returned to the three with a white face, causing the others to do a double-take at what he just said. 

Morgana crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, “It would be a problem if they found us now…”

“–Or ever, you know, that’s bad too.” Kyotaro put his two cents as his eyes frantically scanned the area for a way out as did Akira.

“Right, but hey– let’s head into that room.” Morgana raised a paw to the door to the left of them as he confidently stated, “We should be able to hide there until they leave.”

Well, that seems highly unlikely but it’s not like they have any other choice!

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“The shadows probably won’t come here.”

“ ‘Probably’ doesn’t put me at ease,” Kyotaro shook his head and sighed at Morgana’s bold statement before asking the question that was on all three of the boys’ minds. “Besides, what’s so special about this room?” 

“There’s a lack of disorientation, meaning that the ruler’s control over here is weak.” At the cat’s explanation, the room began to shift much like the one from before.

The dark mahogany table that Morgana stood upon was turned into a light oak with several stools lazily placed around it. To the left of them was a large set of windows and to the front of the room was a chalkboard with a small teacher’s desk in front of it. And like before, the scene left in a flash much like how it arrived. 

“Is this a classroom?” Ryuji gaped as his eyes scanned the darkly lit room that kept swapping between a room in a castle to a classroom in Shujin. 

“Now do you see?” Morgana asked, “This place is another reality that the ruler’s heart projects.”

“So… Kamoshida made this place? Why?” Akira asked incredulously at the prospects of someone just making a different reality where they’re the king of their own place.

“Eh… yes, but he didn’t make it directly.” Morgana explained in a slightly hesitant tone, “One could say it’s a world in which one’s distorted desires have materialized. I call such a place a ‘Palace.’ This cognitive world, that we’re in, originates from Kamoshida’s perception of himself and those around him. This is the reason why the school becomes a castle because he sees it like that.”

“And he sees himself as king, huh?” Kyotaro shook his head with an irritated sigh, while Ryuji’s jaw tightened at the mention of Kamoshida as a king of a castle.

“Hahaha….” Ryuji gave a hollow laugh as his eyes were cast to the ground, before kicking the ground with a growl. “That son of a bitch!”

“You must hate this Kamoshida guy…” Morgana mused with a shake of his head seeing Ryuji foam at the mouth at the gym teacher’s name. 

“Hate doesn’t begin to cover how I feel. Everything is that asshole’s fault!” Akira looked at Ryuji incredulously, Kyotaro averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck, and Morgana shook his head once again as Ryuji tightened his fists. 

“I don’t know what happened between you two, but don’t let your emotions get the better of you. His lackeys are everywhere inside.” Mona advised the angered blonde.

There was a pregnant pause between the four of them; Ryuji still had his jaw clenched, Morgana still had his gaze focused on the door where the guards were roaming outside, and both Akira and Kyotaro shared rigid glances. But their eyes had also scanned each other’s odd clothing once more which caused them to awkwardly glance around the room– something that didn’t go unnoticed by Morgana.

“You guys are curious about your outfits, aren’t you?” The two nodded at Morgana, who went on to explain to them the vague reason that it was ‘just because of this world’. That didn’t exactly explain why Kyotaro looked like he belonged in a circus and why Akira looked like some weird gentleman villain. 

“Anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace. A school can turn into a castle much like this, after all. In order to prevent such distortions, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion. Your appearance is a manifestation of that. It’s the image of rebellion that you hold within.” 

“But why a ringmaster?” Kyotaro brought up with a raise of his brow.

“I dunno… It’s your image of rebellion, not mine.” Both he and Ryuji sighed at Morgana’s vague explanation. The _not cat_ was the only out of them who had a grasp on what was going on yet he didn’t even have much of a clue.

“Uuugh, I’m so fed up with all this! I’m more curious about you than their clothes! What the hell are you anyways!?” The bleach blonde jabbed a finger towards the creature on the table, to which said creature had given him an intense scowl.

“I’m a human‒ an honest to God human!” The three raised their brows at his statement, confused as to how in the world is the thing before them a human.

“No, you’re obviously more like a cat!” Ryuji shook his head as he told Morgana, causing the creature to stagger back with a flinch.

“This is, well… It’s because I lost my true form. ...I think.” His large eyes drifted to the side with a weak grit of his teeth. “But I think I know how to regain my true form. The reason why I snuck in here was for a preliminary investigation of those means. Well, I ended up getting caught though… Besides, I’ve been tortured by Kamoshida too! I’m gonna make him pay for sure!”

“Well we’re going to need to get out of this room first,” Akira announced as he took a lock of his hair and played with it. He glanced between the three of them with a determined gaze, “We may have the power to fight but that doesn’t mean we should go head-long into a fight.”

“Right, we should hurry along.” Morgana nodded his head as he brought a paw to his chin. He looked over to Akira and Kyotaro however he mostly lingered on the black-clad teen. “I’ll be counting on your skills.”

“Yeah… I may not be able to fight but I think I brought something that might help.” Ryuji’s voice brought their attention onto him, the bleach blonde opened up his bag and pulled out three pistols… _What the hell?!_ Before they could ask why– he explained with a grin, “I brought these, they’re model guns so it only makes sounds! Nice, huh?”

“Why would you bring realistic guns to school?” Kyotaro facepalmed and shook his head, “And if they do only make noises, why would you bring them? It’s like… bringing a plastic sword to a duel!”

“I thought that we could use them to fake them out, ya know? They look real so you can use them to threaten those guards if they ever get too close.” He explained with his grin still on his face, he handed Kyotaro the toys so that he could pull out a small bottle of painkillers from his bag. “I brought some medicine too. You know what they say, ‘providing is pre….’ something.”

“Providing is preventing…” Kyotaro finished his line as he looked over one of the pistols in his arms, but looking over the supplies he got caused him to realize something. “So wait… you wanting to come here wasn’t a spur of the moment decision?”

“Yeah, I kinda planned this as soon as we left the rooftop,” Ryuji admitted as he awkwardly scratched his cheek. “I also brought a shotgun if you guys want it, er... Fake, of course.”

“I’m fine with the pistol,” Akira smirked as he took one of them from Kyotaro, giving it a faulty twirl of the handle before placing it into a pocket inside his coat. The ringmaster looked over to Morgana as he held out the guns for him.

“So which one do you want? The white one or the black one?” The cat scoffed as he pulled out something behind him. 

“I don’t need those, I have my own form of ranged attack!” He announced in a snobbish voice as he revealed a slingshot.

“Okay… I guess you get the two berrettas.” Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck as he saw Morgana’s attempt to look impressive with that slingshot of his. _Also, did that mean he had a pocket in the back of his fur?_

“Well, anyway. Let’s continue with our infiltration of this castle.” The three of them nodded at Morgana’s declaration, the cat-like creature looked over to Akira. “Let’s head out with caution, can you put your ear to the door to see if you hear any guards?”

He nodded before doing just that, he placed his right ear to the wooden door to hear the distorted voices of a few guards just behind the door outside their safe room of sorts. 

_“Hm, I thought I just heard something move over there. Guess it was just imagination…”_

_“And what of the slaves?”_

The three others in the room slowly moved over to the door at the muffled mention of slaves. They shared uneven glances as they heard the guards continue. 

_“They’re all in the training hall. I’d assume they’re screaming in pain by now.”_

_“Very well. By the way, I heard we may have intruders around. Stay on your guard.”_

They heard the sound of metal footsteps walk away from them which slowly disappeared into the distance after a few seconds. Akira slowly peeked his head through the crack of the door to see that the guards turned the corner in the distance. With a signal, the group moved out of the room– where Morgana began discussing their next action.

“Training hall, that’ll be our destination.” He announced as he stepped into the front, “I think that’s a little further up on ahead. Let’s go!” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

_“Hey, have you seen anyone who looks like an intruder?”_

_“No, nobody yet…”_

The four of them saw the two knights converse after they made their way to the lower chambers that led to the training hall. Unfortunately, it looked like they had no way of avoiding confrontation as the two broke apart and one of the two looked over to the corner they were hiding behind. 

“Okay, what’s the plan? Kick their asses like before?” Ryuji asked the three as he raised his fists. 

“It’s not that simple, summoning our persona takes energy out of us. If we use it liberally then we’ll just tire ourselves out fast.” Morgana gritted his teeth as his eyes lingered on the guard blocking their path.

“I-I see…” Ryuji looked crestfallen as his eyes dropped to the ground. “Dammit, I wish I could help. All I’ve done so far was bring a buncha’ toys that don’t even shoot pellets! I’m such a loser…”

“Hm, wait… I think those guns you brought may come in handy right now.” Morgana rubbed his chin with his paw. He looked over to Akira and Kyotaro with a determined gaze, “One of you needs to rip off that guard’s mask then we’ll fire upon it.”

“Wait! What are you sayin’?” Ryuji did a double-take, he looked over to Akira and Morgana and hissed out. “They can’t shoot anything so–”

“Too late, Kyotaro’s already on it…” Akira pointed to the ringmaster-like boy who leaped over the box and crawled onto the guard's shoulder. 

“Let’s see that mug of yours!” He announced as he tore off its mask, Kyotaro rolled away from the body before it exploded into several streams of black and red and took the shape of two creatures. One of those fairies from before and a plant-like creature with a large pink flower on its head.

“So we just shoot these things?” Kyotaro looked over to the cat as he and Akira raised their guns, Morgana gave a stern nod as he held his slingshot. The boy gave a scoff as he had his finger on the trigger, “I don’t understand though, how do you think a sound is just gonna‒”

 _BANG!_ His brows widened in shock seeing Akira just fire a bullet from his pistol at the fairy, glancing between him and the cat‒ he raised both of his guns and pulled the trigger, firing actual bullets at the plant creature. He gaped, “Holy… crap!”

“Nicely done, allow me to finish the job.” Morgana raised his slingshot and pulled back several pellets. He launched them in bursts of fire, causing the shadows to explode upon their deaths. 

After the fight was finished, Ryuji moved over to the three of them with his mouth agape, “Whoa! Did those toy guns just shoot actual friggin’ bullets!”

“This is a cognitive world. As long as our opponent sees it as real, it becomes such. It’s a good thing it’s realistic-looking.” Morgana explained to a Ryuji with furrowed brows.

“...I don’t get it.”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to understand.” Morgana shook his head before turning to the frizzy-haired teen who was currently rubbing his chin in thought, “And what about you, Frizzy-hair? Do you understand what I said?”

“So… It’s all based on perception and because we’re in some sort of reality from Kamoshida’s mind, it becomes real?” Akira said, unsure if he was correct or not but based the look on Morgana’s face he seemed to be right on the money. 

“Exactly, at least one of you has a mind of higher caliber…” The cat smirked as he mused in that same condescending voice. 

“So if that’s the case, how come your slingshot is as strong as a goddamn gun! What about that cognitive whatever?!” Ryuji bit back, causing Morgana to stagger back in surprise‒ his eyes frantically moved all over the place looking for an answer.

“W-Well… That’s‒”

“Maybe it’s because… You see it as a powerful weapon? Or something?” Kyotaro added his two cents with a shrug, they all looked to be taken aback based on the way they looked at him. “Well, since this is a ‘cognitive world’ and it runs on perception‒ it could also run on our perception as well. And, slingshots ARE technically weapons so the mind can still register it as a danger subconsciously or whatever…”

Morgana blinked before facing Ryuji with a confident smirk, “Y-yeah! Of course, it’s simple logic!”

“You had no idea either…” Ryuji sighed at the cat’s attempt to play off of Kyotaro’s theory. The blonde looked over to him, still surprised he could muster up a seemingly logical explanation. But he was even more surprised at what he was about to do. 

Kyotaro raised the gun to his face and asked, “So if I just imagine that the gun won’t fire, does that mean?‒”

“NO!” They exclaimed in unison, quickly taking the gun out of his hands before he could pull the trigger.

Probably shouldn’t have given him a gun even if they thought it was just a toy, let alone two… 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Got any other moves for us? Morg?” Kyotaro asked the cat beside him as they peeked around the corner to see the door with a banner above it that readout ‘Training Hall of Love’, gross but it was still a good thing that they reached their destination. 

But the ‘con’ to this ‘pro’ was the fact that there was a guard blocking the door and there looked to be no way that they were going to sneak around it with how diligent it was in its watch. So, it looked like they were going to fight again. Welp, if the cat didn’t have any other way to deal with this then… 

“Actually I do,” Morgana announced with a smirk, causing the three of them to do a double-take. “Alright, you two just need to do as I say once you rip off that guard’s mask.”

They nodded, Akira being the one to take the mask off the shadow while Ryuji kept an eye on Kyotaro. Once the shadow revealed its true form‒a bunch of pixies‒ they moved in with weapons in hand. 

Morgana explained to them as they faced down the shadows, “First, knock down the enemies‒ these creatures are weak to Curse element-based spells so it’ll be your job to take them down, alright Frizzy-hair?”

“Got it. Ravage them, Arsene!” He pulled off his bird mask and called forth the raven-winged pillager. His persona’s fingers began to radiate with dark crimson energy before it sent several pyres of it that struck the shadows with each slam of its fist to the ground‒ the fairies fell to the ground with relative ease. Akira breathed out, “What… now?”

“Now, it’s time for the all-out-attack!” Before they could even register what that meant, the two of them felt their bodies just sub-consciously move on their own. The three simultaneously leaped into the air and struck the shadows in a flurry.

Akira landed on his feet and slowly walked away from the silhouettes of the fairies in pain and started to adjust his gloves. Once he made it to his left, an evil smirk formed on his face as he heard the sounds of blood gush out of the shadows. A large gray star appeared behind him with several bullet holes through it like glass with large lettering to the side,

* * *

**THE SHOW’S OVER**

* * *

“Wh-what was that super move you guys just did?” Ryuji asked as he slowly picked his jaw up off the floor. Akira and Kyotaro looked at each other, sharing simultaneous shrugs before Morgana helped fill in the blanks.

“As I said, it’s an all-out attack. A powerful technique used by Persona users when their enemies are knocked down, it could be used to dispatch them all at once.” Morgana explained with a toothy grin. “It ends a fight quickly, however, there are times where we should hold off on using it.” The cat looked to Akira, “You’ll be in charge of determining when to use it.”

“I… guess that’s fine.” Akira rubbed the back of his head, the raven-haired boy was confused as to exactly what cases they needed to hold off on using such a powerful attack but whatever, all he had to do was just say the word whenever they could use it. 

But Ryuji was still questioning the exact details of what just happened‒ he looked over to Akira and asked, “So what was that thing you did? Your eyes turned all red and that backdrop just popped outta nowhere!” 

“Another form of distortion, you can say.” Morgana explained once again, “But that comes from our own cognition and stems from willpower, it causes our surroundings to temporarily shift and allows us to eliminate weakened enemies without needing to even touch them. I call it a ‘finishing touch’.”

Ryuji only sighed, “Again, another thing that doesn’t make any sense…” 

“Well, how about we put that aside for now?” Akira recommended as he placed a hand on the door before them. “Let’s focus on finding these prisoners.”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The four of them moved across the bridge to where cries of pain came from with unease as they moved over to a gate. They looked into the cell to find several teens dressed in sports uniforms tied to a volleyball net by their hands while the guards had beaten them with sticks without any mercy in their lashes. 

“Holy shit…” Kyotaro cursed in a voice barely above a breath. He looked over to Akira and Ryuji to see what they thought of the scene playing out before them, Akira couldn’t even stomach it as he cast his eyes to the side while Ryuji ground his teeth together. 

“Dammit!” He stomped his foot with a great amount of force, the three behind him flinching at the intensity of his voice. “This is bullshit!”

“How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down!?” Morgana hissed, but Ryuji still was busy going ballistic as he saw the guards continue whipping their victims. 

“But this is beyond messed up! How do I open this…?” 

“Stop it…!” Before the blonde could even get his hands on the bars, a weak voice pleaded with him. One of the boys, slaves– that’s what the guards referred to them, limped over to them with his arms and legs bandaged up and begged once again, “Leave us alone… it’s useless…”

“What? What do you mean?” Akira asked as he stepped up to the gate. His eyes glanced over their shirts and widened at the lettering on them, “You guys are from _Shujin?_ ”

“What?!” Ryuji reeled back in surprise at Akira’s find, he examined the student closer before doing a double-take once he finally realized what their uniforms meant, “These guys are members of the volleyball team, the one Kamoshida coaches for!”

Another slave trod over to them as he held his arm wrapped in plaster. He sounded like he was on the verge of crying based on the way he spoke, “If we stay obedient, we won’t be executed like you guys…” 

“You’re tellin’ me you wanna stay in a place like this?” Ryuji growled as he gripped onto the bars, the two slaves of this castle only averted his gaze with pained expressions in response. 

“Wait, were you planning on taking these guys out of here?” Morgana gaped at what Ryuji was insinuating. The bleach blonde nodded with a determined expression, causing the cat to shake his head and sigh, “How stupid can you be? These are only humans in Kamoshida’s cognition, you could say they’re extremely-similar dolls that resemble their real counterparts. These things are just ‘the king’s’ playthings.”

“The hell!? Why’s it gotta be so complicated!?” Ryuji kicked the dirt before giving a tense curl of his lips, “So the school’s a castle, and the students are slaves… It’s so on point that it makes me laugh. This really is the inside of that asshole’s head!”

“Still, this is horrible. It must mean he treats them as slaves in the real world too.” The three Shujin students flinched back in shock at the revelation dropped by Morgana.

Kyotaro looked back to the students who slowly trod their way back to their abusers with furrowed brows and a creased frown. He spoke in a voice barely above a mumble, “So the rumors are true…” 

He got the attention of the three at his revelation though Ryuji seemed to be crestfallen rather than being surprised, Kyotaro spoke a bit louder. “There have been rumors going around that Kamoshida was using some pretty harsh training. I just brushed it off as just gossip like everyone else but… it looks like we finally got an answer.” 

“That bastard, he’s doing it to his own team too… _I should have known!_ ” Ryuji gritted his teeth. Without another thought, he pulled out his phone a stern expression. “If it is really true, then it’s something that we should be reporting to the police. If this goes well then that asshole is gonna pay, I’ll just take a picture then– huh?”

“What is it? C’mon hurry up and take the picture…” Kyotaro told him with a serious tone of voice. 

“I-I can’t use it! We can use the navigation app but the camera is a no-go?” Ryuji yelled as he gripped his phone, Morgana could be heard questioning what the navigation app meant in the background but everyone had their focus on the functionality of their phones. 

Kyotaro and Akira pulled out their phones but like Ryuji, they got nothing… The former of the two asked with a tense gaze, “So how the hell do we go about this? If we wanna report this to the police then we need something.”

“Right, I’ll…” Ryuji’s face scrunched up in thought but an idea crossed his mind, it wasn’t effective but it’ll do. “I’ll memorize their faces! When we get back to the real world, we can get some answers from them.”

“Whatever will work…” Morgana’s eyes frantically glanced all over the place in case some guards took notice of them, “We just need to do it fast!”

“Alright, alright! I’ll try to memorize them quick!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you can see, I put some in-world explanations of the guns and all-out attacks. As for the dungeon exploration of the game, I'll gloss over them for the most part. Unless it's an important boss or scene that will help with the story, I won't include them and jump to the bigger parts.


	8. The Skull of Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji comes face to face with the one who ruined his life

**April 12th: Tuesday**

**Time: After School**

**Location: Other Kamoshida’s Castle**

* * *

They stopped once they reached the door to the main hall of the castle and since there were no guards left after they dispatched the few in and around this area, they had time to breathe. And after what they saw, they really needed it… 

“All that shit… Kamoshida put those guys through,” Kyotaro brought a hand to his forehead. He looked over to Ryuji, the blonde still had his jaw clenched and his sharp gaze was lowered to the ground. 

They had to watch Kamoshida’s ‘slaves’ be tortured; the whipping, having them run without a drop of water and seeing them being fired upon with cannons. The worst part was, these were all methods of Kamoshida’s training– Just heavily exaggerated but that didn’t make it any less cruel. These were high school students, not machines!

“It’s so… Fucked up! He’s doing the exact same shit, like before!” Ryuji cursed with a venom-laced voice, causing the three beside him to flinch at the volume of his voice. 

“Ryuji, I know you’re upset– but we can’t afford to be loud.” Akira attempted to calm the blonde as they passed through the door that led to the great hall– He had his brow raised at the mention of the teacher doing this before but he bit his tongue, right now they just needed to get out of here. He placed a hand on his shoulder with a confident nod, “We’ll find a way to stop this, just keep those faces memorized.” 

Morgana joined the conversation with a tap of his foot in a restless manner, “Let’s get to the exit THEN we can focus on whatever else…”

The three of them nodded and began running up the stairs but once they did make it into the hall, they were met with that other Kamoshida with a guard in golden armor alongside the normal ones from before. 

He spat out, _“...You knaves again? You’re lucky that my guards were too braindead to catch you pests, but I’ll solve that problem once I deal with this infestation before me.”_

“Psh! The school ain’t your castle! I’ve memorized their faces real good. You’re goin’ down!” Ryuji gave a wry smile at the prospects of Kamoshida’s downfall, but the king seemed to be unfazed by this– in fact, he seemed to be amused by his bravado.

 _“It seems it’s true when they say “barking dogs seldom bite”. How far the star runner of the track team has fallen.”_ Kamoshida cackled as he rubbed his chin, Ryuji staggered back at his last sentence but he bit back with a growl. 

“The hell are you getting at?!” 

_“I speak of the “Track Traitor” who acted in violence, ending his teammates’ dreams. Oh, I can only imagine the pain of the others who were dragged under with your… selfish act.”_ He added in a pause just to rub salt in the wound, Ryuji visibly flinched and his jaw was tightened. 

“Track traitor? Ryuji, what’s he talking about?” Akira asked the boy in front of him, the blonde’s words failed him– much to the amusement of Kamoshida. 

_“What a surprise. So you’re accompanying him without knowing anything at all? He betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever.”_

“That’s not true! I–”

 _“You’ve come along with these fools and are now going to end up dead.”_ With a snap of his fingers, the shorter guards to his right transformed into large dark horned horses. _“...How unlucky of you. Go. Kill them all. Don’t sully my castle with garbage.”_

“Damn it, Ryuji! Get back!” Morgana demanded the blonde, who did so reluctantly as the three persona users stepped forth. 

Kyotaro called forth his mysterious persona with an aura of blue surrounding him, the lanky figure pressed its feet against the creature’s charging horns as it floated in midair but his persona was outmatched– the demon horse tossed the dark figure aside and knocked the ringmaster-like boy down. 

Akira was caught off-guard once he noticed Kyotaro had fallen, allowing himself to be knocked down as well before he could summon Arsene. 

Morgana didn’t fare much better, he had Zorro desperately fired bursts of wind but the demons were too strong to be fazed by his attacks. And he too was ultimately knocked down with a ram of the horns. 

“Rgh… You piece of– Ugh!” Morgana was cut off when Kamoshida placed his foot on top of his small body, using him much like a doormat as he looked over to Ryuji with a wry smile.

 _“I bet you just rushed in here, guns blazing and expected to take me down. Didn’t you?”_ He raised his nose and mused with a smug voice, _“What a worthless piece of trash, getting emotional so quickly… How dare you raise your hand at me. Though it was only temporary, have you forgotten my kindness in supervising track practice?”_

“It wasn’t practice!– It was just physical abuse! You just didn’t like our team!” He attempted to defend himself but he couldn’t help but collapse to the ground in his rush of anger. 

_“It was nothing but an eyesore! The only one who needs to achieve results is me! That coach who got fired was hopeless too… Had he not opposed me with a sound argument, I would’ve settled it with only breaking his star’s leg.”_

Bastard… 

_“Do you need me to deal with your other leg too? The school will call it self-defense anyway!”_ Ryuji sank further, there was no way to stop him. No matter what he did, Kamoshida was just gonna make his life worse. 

“Am I really gonna lose again…?” His voice began to crack, his eyes began welling up. “Not only can I not run anymore… the track team is gone too ‘cause of this asshole…!” 

_“Hey… Don’t feel too bad.”_ Kamoshida’s shit-eating grin grew larger as he saw the former track-star so downtrodden. _“Once I’m done with your friends here, I’ll free you from your misery.”_

“N-No…” Ryuji tried lifting his head as he weakly raised a hand in protest.

“Damn it, Ryuji! Don’t take this shit!” Akira shouted in a powerful voice, the blonde’s head shot up to see the raven-haired teen’s intense face. He demanded of him, “If he knocks you down, get back up and hit him back harder! Stand up for yourself!” 

“I… _I…_ You’re right…” Ryuji slowly raised himself off the floor with fists clenched, he growled as his nails dug into his palms. “He took everything from me, I’ll never get it back if I just sit down and take it!”

 _“Stay there and watch.”_ Kamoshida tilted his head with his wide smile still on his face. _“Look on as these hopeless scum die for nothing because they sided with trash like you.”_

“Scum… The only scum here is you, you son of a bitch!” He slowly raised his arm as he continued in his venomous speech, “All you think about is using people… You’re nothing but a scumbag!” 

Ryuji jabbed a finger towards the shitbag of a king as if to strike him down where he stood, “Stop looking down on me with that STUPID SMILE ON YOUR FACE!”

………

**_“You had me wait quite a while…”_** As a voice in his head mused, Ryuji’s vision was enveloped in a screen of red and he felt a sharp pain in his skull. He grasped the side of his head in a desperate attempt to soothe the torment in his head, Ryuji dropped to the ground as salvia spilled out from his mouth.

**_“You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact… Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc…? The “other you” who exists within desires it thus…”_** Kamoshida and his men staggered a bit as Ryuji convulsed in his pain while the three pinned to the ground waited in anticipation for the tables to turn. 

Unlike the ones bound to this castle, they could hear the voice that resembled Ryuji’s.

**_“I am Thou, Thou art I… There is no turning back…”_ ** He raised his head to the golden guard that looked upon him without any hesitation as it held Akira down with its foot, revealing a dark gray skull mask that appeared onto his face in a flash of blue. **_“The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!”_ **

_“So what can you do?”_ The shadow taunted Ryuji as he raised himself up off the floor, it lifted its sword in a threat. _“Cower in fear and watch!”_

“Ngh…” He began pulling at the sides of his mask, blood slowly drew from his tearing before he tore it off with one painful rip. “Hraaaaghhh!!!!” 

His body was consumed in a pillar of blue flames that blew back the guards, freeing his companions who held onto the floor so that they too wouldn’t get pushed away. Once the fire began dying down, it revealed Ryuji in a new outfit with his head down and another figure floating behind him. 

He was dressed in a black leather jacket with a popped collar, matching black pants with knee pads, a red ascot tied tightly around his neck, and a pair of yellow gloves with steel knuckles. 

As for the figure behind him, it was a skeletal pirate that floated on top of a small ship with a cartoonishly evil face drawn onto the front. It had a cannon for a right arm and on its chest were two cutlasses with it’s blades to its neck. 

Ryuji lifted his head up to reveal a mischievous smirk, he began admiring his new power as Kamoshida gritted his teeth. “Right on! Wassup Persona! This effin’ rocks!”

His three companions moved over to stand beside him as he faced the shadows with an eager roll of his shoulders. Akira looked over to him with a smirk, “So, you wanna take the lead on this one?”

“Hell yeah! It’s time I pay these bastards back!” The bicorns from before trotted over beside their golden captain, the head shadow burst into a mess of red and black and transformed into a red knight with horns on top of a black horse. 

Ryuji only laughed at the challenge before him. He pointed a finger towards the direction of one of the bicorn and called for his persona to attack, “Blast em’ away! Captain Kidd!”

The pirate fired a ball of electricity into the air which then proceeded to turn into a stream of lightning that struck the monster, knocking it down. 

“Kamoshida’s cognition ain’t changin’, right? Then I’ll act like the troublemaker I am!” The thug-like boy pumped his fist as the other three persona users stalled the demons in place with their firearms, allowing Ryuji to knock them down like the first– leaving the guard captain the only one standing. 

“Nice one, Ryuji!” Kyotaro gave him a thumbs up to which the blonde had mirrored back to him. With a rub of his nose, the ringmaster had called forth his persona in aid. “Here’s something to help you take that guy down, Tarukaja!” The mysterious figure summoned a flash of red to envelop the thug-like boy.

“Whoa-ho! Thanks, Kyo!” Ryuji felt his body grow more weight to it and his muscles and focus tensed as he surged with this energy, he gave another thumbs-up to Kyotaro before turning his attention back to the captain– who was being stalled by Akira and Morgana. 

With another blast of lightning, the monster was knocked down like its allies. Which meant one thing left to do…

“Hell yeah! All-out Attack!” At Ryuji’s call, the four of them leaped into the air and began striking the four monsters in a shower of attacks. 

Ryuji landed on his face but he quickly picked himself up and gave a devil horn gesture with a large grin on his face as the shadows had geysers of their blood spurt out of them. A vibrant background appeared behind him with large lettering in bright green and yellow, 

* * *

**FREAKiN’ BoRiNG**

* * *

“Ha… Ha… How ‘bout that?” Ryuji smirked in between his gasps for breath, he had his hands on his knees as he faced Kamoshida. “Even if you start apologizing… I ain’t forgivin’ you!” 

Kamoshida was unfazed by the newest persona user, he scoffed as he raised an arm out. _“I told you that this is my castle. It seems you still don’t understand…”_

A girl with platinum blonde hair tied into two bushy pig-tails dressed in a purple bikini, heels, and cat ears stepped up to the pervy king and looked over to the four of them with a smug smile. Ryuji flinched in surprise, “Wh– T-Takamaki?!”

“N-no way! Is she… a cognition?” Kyotaro guessed with an uncertain voice, he felt his chest burn as he saw the girl so… scantily clad– she had to be fake but he couldn’t help but look away. 

But Morgana had some differing opinions on the matter, the cat creature was busy drooling over the girl as his eyes were glued onto her exposed form. “Wha… What a meow-velous and beautiful girl!” 

“Dude, seriously?” Kyotaro scoffed, the cat still drooled over the image of the girl with Akira shaking his head with a sigh.

 _“As I said before,”_ Kamoshida sniggered as he rubbed the cognitive Takamaki’s chin, the girl purred and swayed her head much like a cat at his touch. _“This is MY castle‒a place in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me. ...That is, everyone besides slow-witted thieves like you.”_

The skull-faced boy hissed at the pervy son of a bitch, “Let her go, you F–”

“Ryuji, she isn’t real!” Morgana reminded the bleach blonde, causing him to hold himself back. 

_“Are you jealous?”_ Kamoshida taunted as his fingers made his way to her chest, causing Ryuji to bare his teeth at the king. _“Well, I’m not surprised. Women aren’t drawn to problematic punks like you.”_

With a snap of his fingers, Kamoshida summoned three more of his guards that appeared in a haze of red. He ordered as the fake Takamaki rubbed her hand against his chest, _“Clean up this infestation this instant!”_

Damn, they were too wiped out to get into another fight. Kyotaro called out, “We gotta go!” 

“We seriously gonna run away?!” Ryuji gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked over to Kamoshida’s devilish grin. 

Akira grabbed him by the shoulder and told him with a tense voice, “If we stay here, we’re dead.”

“Ngh, fine… I get it…” He aimed his sharp glare towards the king, jabbed a finger towards him, and bellowed. “We’ll expose what you really are, no matter what! You better be ready for us…!”

_“Hahaha! I was beginning to get bored of torturing the ones here! Come at me whenever you want, if you don’t care about your life! Hahahahahaha!”_

“Just ignore him, let’s go!”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The four of them made their way out of the castle, they went through the vent like last time they escaped. They had to be quick about as well, the guards chased after them for a bit but with a few well-placed misdirections– they were able to get them off their trails. 

“We got away…” Ryuji smirked in between his gasps for air, but he had reeled back in surprise at his change of costume. “Huh? I don’t remember changin’ into this!”

“Seriously?” Kyotaro rubbed the back of his neck as Ryuji examined his new threads, “How could you not notice the whole ‘thug’ thing?”

“Thug? At least I look better than you two!” Ryuji laughed as he flicked his collar, the two shrugged and shook their heads in disagreement. They just couldn't see what was wrong with their attire… The newest persona user once again began inspecting his costume, “I don’t understand how these threads just appeared, and… is this a skull?”

“As I said before– when a Persona-user opposes a Palace’s ruler and becomes a threat to them, this happens. It’s to prevent you from being affected by distortions.” Morgana explained to the blonde, but Ryuji only gave him a blank stare as he continued. “ Your appearance reflects your inner self. It’s the rebel that slumbers within… _Not that you’ll get it._ ”

“Nope.”

“Then stop asking questions and accept what you see for what it is.”

“Easy for you to say.” Ryuji paused for a moment before giving a deep gasp as his eyes widened in shock. “Wait, we’re in deep shit!”

“Quiet!” Morgana hissed, if they weren’t careful then more of those guards would have shown up. 

“We might’ve gotten away here, but we’re still screwed with Kamoshida at the real school…” 

“How observant!” The cat paused for a moment with a small smirk on his face. “For an idiot… Relax. The Kamoshida in reality can’t possibly know about what happens here. A Shadow is the true self that is suppressed–a side of one’s personality they don’t want to see.”

“Right… Kamoshida was fairly normal at school, still a condescending prick but he wasn’t screeching for our heads.” Kyotaro looked over to Ryuji and Akira, the three Shujin students shared simultaneous nods at the confirmation of their safety. 

“All right! Now that we know that, all we gotta do is–”

“Wait. I guided you as promised.” Morgana brought their attention to him as he announced with a raise of his paw. “It’s your turn to cooperate with me. That’s why I was super nice about teaching you idiots everything.”

“Ah, well aren’t you a peach…” Kyotaro deadpanned with a blank face.

“Don’t you remember? I originally came here for an investigation. I need to erase the distortion from my body and regain my real form! That’s why we must delve deep into Mementos and–”

“Whoa, hold up! What are you going on about? We never said anything about helpin’ you out!” Ryuji shook his head as he dug his hands into his pocket. 

Kyotaro rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh, “Sorry cat, we got our own problems to solve.” 

“Huh? Don’t tell me… Are you not going to repay the hospitality I showed you?” He looked over to Akira with pleading eyes, “Especially you! You’re going to up and leave, even though you’re already part of my master plan!?”

“Yeah, I don’t remember you mentioning anything about a plan.” Akira shrugged as he dug his hands into the pockets of his coat, “Next time, drop it by me before you go and assume I’ll be a part of it…”

“I… You….” The cat fell to his knees as he began choking up, “Is it because I’m not human…? Because I’m like a cat…? Is that why you’re making a fool of me!?”

“We’re busy! Thanks for everything, cat. You’ve got guts, bein’ a cat and all! See you around!” The three began running over to the front of the castle as they waved Morgana goodbye. 

“Hey! What the hell!? Ugh, seriously! Why’re you wrapping this up like everything’s hunky-dory!?” Morgana picked himself up to see the three pass through the distortion field and disappear in a ripple. 

“Oh hell no! Get back here! Grr… GRR AAAAGHH!”

* * *

**April 12th: Tuesday**

**Time: After School**

**Location: Aoyama-Itchome**

* * *

_“You have returned to the real world, welcome back.”_ Akira’s phone rang out in that monotone voice as the three of them were gasping for breath. 

“And thank God for that…” Kyotaro said in between his panting as he laid his back against the wall of the alleyway. 

“Yeah, I dragged you guys around a lot, huh? ...Sorry, guys. Ugh, I’m dead tired… How you holdin’ up?” Ryuji gave a weary smile as he looked over to his two companions.

“I really use a nap right now.” Akira rubbed the side of his head and sighed with Kyotaro weakly nodding his head behind him.

“Same here… Man, I’m gonna sleep like a rock when I get home.” Ryuji’s gaze tensed a bit and he began gnawing at his bottom lip, “But damn, if what we saw was for real, this is gonna get good! I totally remember the faces of the guys Kamoshida was treatin’ like slaves. Once we make ‘em fess up to any physical abuse, Kamoshida will be done. So… wanna help me look for those guys or any witnesses?”

“Considering what we saw today? I can’t just pretend that didn’t happen, and I won’t let it continue so long as I have the power to do something.”

“Preachy much?” Kyotaro chuckled at Akira’s determination, to which the curly-haired transfer gave him a slight stink eye in response. But both Ryuji and Akira’s eyes lingered on him for a bit, causing him to shrink where he stood. He ultimately gave a shrug in response, “Alright, I’ll tag along…”

“Nice! Thanks, you guys…” Ryuji clapped his hands onto his shoulders with a smile, “I’m countin’ on you! With us three on the case, Kamoshida doesn’t stand a chance!” 

Akira smiled at Ryuji’s eager attitude, something about the bleach blonde just gave him this air of cheer. He could feel this… bond of trust forming with him.

* * *

**I am thou, Thou art I**

**Thou hast established a new vow**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion**

**That breaketh thy chains of captivity**

**With the birth of the Chariot Persona,**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and a new power**

* * *

The chariot… _Ryuji was another confidant…_

“Dude… I’m starving.” Ryuji whined as he held his stomach that growled for something to devour. He looked at both Akira and Kyotaro expectantly, “I haven’t eaten anything since lunch and it’d be weird splittin’ off now, so why don’t we grab a bite somewhere?” 

“What are we takin’ a bite of?” 

“Beef bowls! But uh… do you guys mind paying for your own meals? I only have enough cash to feed myself…” Ryuji awkwardly laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck, the two shared an unimpressed look before shrugging in acceptance. The blonde cheered, “Nice! Just follow me, I know a good place.” He looked over to Akira, “And when we get there, how about you tell me about your past?” 

“Past…” Akira clicked his tongue hearing that, he gave a hefty sigh before looking at Kyotaro. “Alright, I guess I can get it off my chest. But I wanna know what you and Kamoshida were talking about, that deal you guys had or whatever…”

Kyotaro flinched back in surprise but he gave a weary nod at his request, “I… I guess I’m fine with that, I think I should talk to someone about this as well.”

* * *

“The hell, man! How much shittier can that asshole get!?”

“Ryuji, calm down. We’re in a public place…” Kyotaro pinched his nose with his free hand as he noticed that several eyes were on them.

The three of them were at Ore No Beko, a beef bowl shop in Shibuya’s central street, where they were on the subject of Akira’s criminal record after Kyotaro spilled his guts about Kamoshida’s attempts at getting money out of him. According to him, the transfer from Nikko was saving a woman from some drunk forcing himself on her. The drunk sued, he was charged for assault, and now he was here… What shitty situation with an even more shitty person that caused it. 

“Sorry, it’s just… If it was me, I wouldn’t calm down until I punched that dick in the face.”

“I’ve moved on from it…” Akira sighed and waved off. But the way his eyes were glazed over and cast to his bowl that was barely touched, he seemed to be more affected by it than he was trying to pass off. “My parents told me that there was nothing I could do in a situation like that and that I should have just got out of there. I honestly thought the same for a while but… I could never walk away from that.” 

“That sucks, so… you left your hometown, and… you’re livin’ here now, huh?” Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck, “We all might be more alike than I originally thought.” 

“Speak for yourself… I ain’t no criminal!” Kyotaro announced in jest with a dramatic wave of his arms, getting a small chuckle from Akira and a sigh from Ryuji.

“That’s not what I meant, you idiot… I was talkin’ about how we’re all treated like a pain in the ass by the people around us, like we don’t belong. I did something stupid at school before, too.” Ryuji looked a bit crestfallen for a bit before he shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth and slammed the bowl onto the counter. “You two live in the same area… Yongen, right? It’s rush hour on the subways. I suggest you two kill some time before headin’ home.”

“Yeah, and there are those accidents…” Kyotaro added as he gnawed at the steak and rice in his cheek, “We gotta be careful around stations.” 

“Yeah, you guys should… What the hell man?” Ryuji noticed how Akira had barely made a dent into his bowl, he opened up the jar on the counter and began placing ginger in his food. “You barely touched your food, you like ginger?”

“I guess… but couldn’t you have at least asked me before you do something like this?”

“Just lemme do it. I gotta thank you for helpin’ me. Anyways, I got your guys’ back like you got mine from tomorrow on.” Ryuji smirked in a devilish manner, he clearly couldn’t hold back his excitement to take that so-called king of the castle. “As long as we do something about Kamoshida, I’m sure we’ll all feel better about bein’ at school.”

“Awkward phrasing aside, Ryuji has a point…” Kyotaro nodded with a smirk as he placed his finished bowl onto the counter. 

“Yeah… To think, Kamoshida screwed us all over.” Ryuji scratched his cheek as he thought back to the trouble that the bastard had given them. The track team disbandment and his broken leg, blabbing about Akira’s undeserved criminal record, and the recently revealed attempts at bribing Kyotaro out of his late uncle’s money. _As if Kamo-Shitbag couldn’t get any worse…_

“Just you wait, Kamoshida… We’re gonna start right away tomorrow. First, let’s hit up those guys that were kept as slaves. The volleyball rally’s tomorrow, huh? Shit’s recommended by Kamoshida. Makes me wanna gag. But thanks to that, we got no classes in the afternoon, and we can walk around unnoticed. Well, I guess we can work out the details tomorrow…” Ryuji’s eyes widened as if an idea had struck him right then and there. “We should trade numbers huh? If we’re gonna take down Kamoshida then we’re gonna need to stay in touch.” 

“What are we, criminals?” Kyotaro laughed as he pulled out his phone. But instead of a few scoffs like he expected, his two accomplices had given him wry smiles with their heads held high. He was taken aback by their reactions before he wearily sighed, “I guess we are, aren’t we…?”

“Hey, if we are goin’ against that shitbag of a king– then we’re gonna hafta go against the rules.” Ryuji handed Akira back his phone after he put him in his contacts and held a hand out for Kyotaro to pass him his device. 

“Mhm…” Akira nodded as he took a piece of steak and placed it in between his teeth. “And we’ll start tomorrow, during the volleyball rally– we’re going to have to make our move. You guys ready for that?”

His two confidants nodded their heads with a determined gaze. Good, they were all set. They were gonna find some people to testify against Kamoshida and take down that abusive douchebag… 


	9. Digging Up Dirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three look for any members of the volleyball team willing to testify against Kamoshida and uncover an unfortunate truth to their situation

**[Ryuji S.] Hey, I decided to go ahead and message you guys**

**[Ryuji S.] Can you see this?**

**[Akira K.] Nope**

**[Ryuji S.] You SO can!**

**[Akira K.] What about Kyotaro?**

**[Kyo W.] Yep, I’m here**

**[Kyo W.] I was busy helping my aunt clean up…**

**[Ryuji S.] Well, I’ll be counting on both you guys tomorrow**

**[Akira K.] Got it, we won’t fail**

**[Kyo W.] Right**

**[Ryuji S.] Let’s save those guys on the volleyball team, we’re the only ones who can**

**[Kyo W.] Oh my! How inspiring! =-P**

**[Ryuji S.] Shuddup, Kyo!**

**[Kyo W.} But I understand, we can’t turn our backs away from this. We have to take that prick of a dick, Kamoshida, down.**

**[Ryuji S.] Yeah! We’ll beat the jackass for sure!**

Kyotaro put down his phone for a moment to reach for the book at the foot of his bed, ‘The Invisible Man’. A pretty fun scientific book about a man becoming drunk with power by means of invisibility. It was an English novel so there were some cultural differences that went over his head, a lot of his collection actually originated from the west. From books such as Alice in Wonderland to Don Quixote, it was an interesting experience to read stories outside of Japan. 

He actually got into books like this because of his uncle… Actually, these books were from _his_ library. For every home that he was transferred to, Kyotaro made sure to bring them with him. These were the books that inspired his uncle and they practically raised him throughout his childhood. 

Heh, well… Enough reminiscing. It was time to get back to the book–

 _PI! PI! PI! PI!_ ‘Oh, what now?!’ He thought as he reached for his phone. 

**[Ryuji S.] That thingy on your guys’ phones was some red eyeball icon, right?**

**[Kyo W.] Yeah, what about it?**

**[Ryuji S.] We ended up at that weird place when we used this nav app, right?**

**[Ryuji S.] I found it on my phone too…**

**[Ryuji S.] I don’t even remember installing it!**

**[Akira K.] It must have been downloaded onto your phone when you got your Persona…**

**[Kyo W.] How the eff does that work? And how do you know?**

**….**

**[Akira K.] You got it after your Personas were awakened, didn't you Kyotaro? So I just figured…**

**[Ryuji S.] Right, makes sense**

**[Akira K.] With it, we can use it to go back to that castle. But we should probably hold off before we do something like that.**

**[Ryuji S.] Yeah, but Kyotaro. What’s up with YOUR Persona?**

**[Kyo W.] What do you mean?**

**[Ryuji S.] Well, ours had names and shit but you never told us yours. And it looked all weird, what’s up with that?**

**….**

**[Kyo W.] I have no idea**

**[Kyo W.] Does it matter though? Who cares about this little detail? Once we get those volleyball members to testify against Kamoshida, we never have to go back to that castle again**

**[Ryuji S.] Right, we gotta find evidence for the beatings. I’m counting on you guys, all right? Don’t go ditching school on me.**

With that, they ended the conversation there. Kyotaro looked over to his book but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to read the text in front of him. Thanks to Ryuji, his mind was too focused on that mysterious Persona of his. 

‘ _Find my true power, find my name, and then we can truly forge our contract!’_ It’s distorted voice rang through his head. He scowled at his lack of understanding by what it meant, how do you find someone’s name? No, _how do you find the name of some ghost that pops out of him?_

It just didn’t make any sense… 

* * *

**Day: April 13th: Wednesday**

**Time: Early Morning**

**Location: Shujin Academy**

* * *

“How annoying...” A first-year in front of them complained, “We’ve barely started high school, and they’re already making us play at a volleyball rally? And why are they pitting us against the teacher team? Kamoshida’s gonna crush us.” 

His friend raised his fists in an eager manner, “We get to see his technique live and in person, though. We should totally get spiked on!”

“Yeah, OK. You’re gonna get your face smashed in. Just look at how banged up the volleyball team is. What the hell goes on during their practices?”

“Blind morons…” Kyotaro hissed under his breath as he and Akira made their way to Shujin, he assumed no one would hear him with how quiet he was being. But unfortunately, he noticed how Akira flinched at his cold tone of voice. 

“They don’t know what we saw, don’t get too upset about it.”

“Well, I can’t help it…” Kyotaro awkwardly scratched his cheek, he could feel a small pit forming in his stomach due to Akira’s acknowledgment of his little showcase of irritation. 

As the two turned the corner, they noticed a familiar red-headed girl with her hair tied up by a ribbon. Before they could say something, the girl had also taken notice of the two and walked over to them. 

Kasumi-san greeted with a beaming smile, “Hi Senpais! You guys ready for the volleyball rally?”

Akira sputtered a bit on his words, “Well… I’m not a big fan of volleyball. Y’ know?” Kyotaro gave him a small nudge which he retaliated with a light shove of his elbow. 

The girl blinked, “Oh. Well, I’m actually not a big fan myself… Hehehe, but it just seems kinda cool that the whole school is taking a part of something.” Kasumi paused for a moment as she took a lock of her hair and began twirling it around her finger, “Too bad, I won’t be able to participate…”

“Hm? Why so?” Kyotaro asked with a raise of his brow. To be honest, he was kinda jealous if she did have an out of Kamoshida’s ego-fest.

“Well… I’m actually here on a scholarship, Rhythmic Gymnastics." She explained with a sheepish grin, "And because of that, I'll be training for my next competition instead." 

“Aren’t you lucky,” Kyotaro laughed as the three of them arrived at the front of Shujin. 

Kasumi dipped her head at her upperclassmen once they made it to the steps of the school. She said politely with that same cheery smile of hers, “Good luck at the volleyball rally. Akira-senpai, Kyotaro-senpai. I hope you two have fun!”

“Thanks,” Akira mirrored her courteous attitude with a broad smile, “And good luck at your training, and do your best to win that medal.” He added with a wink, causing the girl to flush a bit before Kasumi regained her composure with a quick laugh. 

“That’s the plan, bye!” She waved off as she hiked up the steps and onto campus, the red-haired girl disappeared amongst the small crowd that huddled around in front of the entrance. 

Kyotaro looked over to Akira and rubbed his chin with a sly smile on his face, the 2nd year transfer pushed his glasses up with a frown as he bumped his elbow into his arm. The two walked in silence as they made their way into the building, Akira still annoyed at Kyotaro’s teasing. Obviously, Yoshizawa-san wasn’t interested in him. She was just a bit friendly with him, she seemed like one of those girls to be like that everyone. And he wasn’t interested in her, he just met her!

Wanting to get that subject off his mind, Akira brought up as the two of them made their way to their classes. “So what’s even the point of this Volleyball Rally anyway? Well, besides stroking Kamoshida’s ego…” 

“I think it’s supposed to draw people to join Volleyball,” Kyotaro shrugged, “But it’s not like there are many options to choose from in our sports programs anymore.” He rubbed the back of his neck with pursed lips, “Guess who got _those_ shutdown...”

“Kamoshida? Can he even do that?”

Kyotaro rolled his neck as he exhaled in a tired voice, “He finds his ways, don’t know how but he did.”

The two broke apart once they made it to their classes, Kyotaro gave a quick wave to Ryuji in the desk seated behind him. They ran down the whole situation in whispered breaths before class started. Ms. Chouno began class with a clap of her hands, “So everyone, today is the volleyball rally. Once you change, head straight to the gymnasium.” The class collectively nodded and got up from their seats. 

As they walked out the door, Ryuji and Kyotaro shared a determined gaze. They were gonna knock that king off his throne…

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The whole gym winced in surprise seeing Mishima-Kun take a spike to the face, knocking him to the ground. And the so-called 'king' rushed over to the fallen kid as the crowd of students awed in such ‘care’ he displayed. Holding him up, looking all concerned, and asking someone to take Mishima to the nurse‒ someone, give this man an award because the audience is eating it up. 

The three watched it from the sidelines, unimpressed and disgruntled that Kamoshida had painted himself as a hero that could commit murder yet everyone would brush it off with a quick apology and some crocodile tears. Kyotaro’s grip on his jacket tightened just seeing Kamoshida’s rectangle-shaped face. He looked over to Akira and Ryuji, also silent in their anger but a bit more reserved than he was shown in their stony faces. Seeing their stoicism, he began to calm himself down‒ a few exhalations of breath then he was all good. 

Ryuji scoffed, throwing a volleyball back into the court in disgust. “He’ll pay soon…” 

“Hope so,” Akira nodded, “If that’s just a taste of the abuse then I'd hate to see it all." 

As he and Ryuji hummed in agreement, Kyotaro caught something in the corner of his eye. It was that blonde girl from before, Takamaki-san, giving Kamoshida a blank stare. A stone-face that seemed to lack any movement, not even a slightest twitch of the brow. He opened his mouth to say something to Akira and Ryuji but his jaw seemed to close shut before he could even take a breath. Perhaps he was just reading too much into that thousand yard stare of hers, but the memory of that scantily clad version of Ann Takamaki cuddling up to Kamoshida popped into his mind. 

He mentally scoffed at the image, whatever those two are doing‒ it didn’t matter right now. Because they needed to focus on pulling the curtains on that Pompous Predatorial Prick, Kamoshida. Well, once they slip out of this little ego-trip‒ then the son of a bitch is going down. Just needed to find those students.

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Well, they found one. But they got absolutely nothing, and but nothing, they only got whimpers from the beaten up kid saying that they had ‘no idea what was going on’. Understandable why, if he tattled then Kamoshida would probably shut it down quickly. But it still sucked that they got nothing from these guys!

The three decided on splitting up and so far, Kyotaro has got jack-all. Though it’s a bit hard to ask ‘How’s the abuse going?’ to someone. That, and nobody really wants to talk to him either. So yeah, _a double handicap there._ Hopefully Akira and Ryuji are doing better, he thought. Because right now, he’s just been walking around like a lost child in a grocery store.

“Everybody’s been saying a lot of bad stuff about that transfer student in your class, Ann” Kyotaro stopped in his tracks before he turned the corner, he turned his head to his right to see Takamaki and her friend Suzui chatting. He walked over to the wall where he tried to camouflage and turned an ear to eavesdrop on their little conversation.

“I know. I hate rumors already, but they’re only getting more and more complex as time goes on.” Ain’t that the truth, Kyotaro mentally laughed. There were a few morons talking about Akira having a knife on him. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so utterly retarded. 

“I wonder if he’s all right… I hope he’s not letting it get to him too much.”

“ That’s just like you, Shiho. Always worrying about other people before yourself. Kinda like when you were there for me…” As Kyotaro was about to step closer, he noticed that the two of them had noticed him. 

Suzui blinked, "Hello Wata-"Kyotaro then immediately ran off like a stray kitten. 

"Nabe?…" Shiho finished with a perplexed voice. She turned to Ann, "What was that about?"

"I dunno, the guy is a weirdo…" She shrugged, her finger rubbing against her forehead as she saw the students in the hallway give a glance to the guy only to continue what they were doing earlier. "Nobody should really be surprised at what Watanabe-kun does." 

Shiho smiled slightly, Kyotaro Watanabe seemed like a hyper child who would pester his parents with antics but had a kind heart. "I guess, he doesn't seem all that bad either." 

"I guess so…" Ann rubbed her chin, thinking back to Watanabe's recent actions- which have been quite tame compared to last year. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he's been hanging around with the transfer and Sakamoto-kun."

"Hm? That's an odd group…"

Ann clicked her tongue at this, unsure of what to make of this little fact. "Yeah, they sure are." 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

_“All matches have concluded, please get ready to go home for today.”_ A voice over the intercom announced in a dull tone. Causing Kyotaro to slowly bring a hand to his forehead in irritation. As his fingertips pressed against his skull, he felt his phone ring. 

**[Ryuji S.] Dammit, we’re outta time. How did it go with you two?**

**[Akira K.] Take a wild guess.**

**[Kyo W.] Same… If Akira also found nothing, I mean.**

**[Ryuji S.] Guess luck wasn’t on our side today. Mkay, let’s regroup for now. See you guys in the courtyard?**

With a heavy sigh, Kyotaro slipped his phone back into the pocket and headed to their meetup spot. Where he found Akira by the vending machines, a small frown on his face and his eyes filled with displeasure. Kyotaro nodded, another vexed sigh escaping his lips. 

“This day has been such a drag…” Kyotaro kicked the ground with a weak punt. 

“No kidding, we got from nowhere to less than nowhere.” Akira tugged at a lock of his curly hair. “I’m just imagining that smug bastard laughing at us‒”

“Hey,” A familiar voice caught their attention, turning their heads as they saw Takamaki-san walking over to them with a puzzled look on her face. “Can I talk to you two for a sec?” 

Kyotaro began, his words failing him. “Uh… I‒”

“You were all weird back in the hallway, why were you spying on me for?” 

“I wasn’t!” He quickly defended himself, raising his hands. “I was just trying to… find Kurusu here and I happened to stumble upon you and Suzui!”

Takamaki gave him a flat stare as she pursed her lips for a few seconds. She gave a quick nod as she hummed out a mumble of acceptance before looking over to Akira. “Anyway, what’s with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all. …There’s that weird rumor about you too.” 

Akira’s eyes darted to the side, the gears in his head could be seen turning as he struggled to come up with something to say. Softly sputtering and twitching all the while. But luckily for him, their resident bleach blonde came to the rescue. 

“Whaddya want with him?” Ryuji emerged from the corner, sounding quite accusatory based on his tone. 

Takamaki fired back, “Right back at you. You’re not even in our class.”

“ ...We just happened to get to know each other.”

“What’re you three planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?” 

“Huh!? ...I see. I getcha. You’re all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all.”

“This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!”

“ If you found out what he’s been doin’ behind your back, you’d dump him right away.”

“Behind my back…? What’s that supposed to mean…?”

“You wouldn’t get it.”

Kyotaro slowly slid his head towards Akira as this went on, “This is… real awkward.” The curly haired boy nodding his head as his eyes shifted between the two blondes. 

“Anyway, people are already talking about you three. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but no one’s gonna help you. I’m warning you, just in case. That’s all.” With a flip of her pigtails, she was gone. Leaving in a subtly hostile tone. 

Ryuji folded his hands into his pocket and huffed, “Why’s she gotta be so aggressive all the time?”

“What? You two have a history or something?” Akira jested in a monotone voice. A small smile on his face as he rubbed his chin. 

“No… We do not have a history.” Ryuji said in a dead drawl, “We just went to the same middle school. Anyways, that’s not what we’re here to talk about. I had no luck on my end. What about you two? Did anything like someone’s name turn up?” 

“Mishima came up in a few.” Akira brought up, to which Kyotaro immediately jumped in. 

“Yep, came… up in a few of mine too.” He lied, because again‒ nobody wanted to say a word to him out of annoyance. Plus he wanted to sound like he actually contributed to something. 

“ Huh…? ...Special ‘coaching,’ huh?” Ryuji sounded quite grim as the words escaped his lips. “True. I always see the guy covered in bruises. Let’s go talk to him before he leaves then.”

With that, the three rushed over to the front of the school where they found Mishima hobbling. As soon as he noticed their footsteps, he stopped to face them. 

“Huh…? What are you three doing?” He sounded quite sheepish, almost like a mouse in broad daylight.

“We’ve come to talk,” Kyotaro spoke up, stern and quiet. “Those bruises you always get… Where did they come from?”

“They’re from practice!” Mishima yawped, shaking his head as he did. His volume began to die as he glanced away from the three. “Our team goes through harsh training to improve.”

“Harsh?” Akira raised a brow at that, causing Mishima to stagger. 

“Sounds like abuse, with all that ‘coaching’ Kamoshida’s been doing.” Ryuji insinuated, his expression stoned face and his voice low. 

“Certainly not!”

“What’re you talkin’ all polite for? Anyways… We saw him spike you today. Right in the face.” Ryuji did not break, not even making any signs of twitching. 

“That was just because I’m not good at the sport…”

“Still, that doesn’t explain all the other bruises you’ve got.” 

“I said before, it’s just practice!”

“Is he forcin’ you to keep quiet?”

Mishima once again backed away. He looked to the ground as he attempted to sputter an explanation. But before he could make a sentence, he was interrupted by a familiar commanding voice. 

“What’s going on here?” As soon as Kamoshida walked up into the scene, Kyotaro could be seen backing up as he drifted a bit to Akira. The other three did a double-take at his arrival while Kyotaro simply looked to the ground. 

“Mishima, isn’t it time for practice?” The coach brought up, like a king politely calling for his slave to return to his labor. 

“I-I’m not feeling well today.” 

Kamoshida scoffed, speaking in a subtle venom in his voice. “What? Maybe you’re better off quitting then. You’re never going to improve that crappy form unless you show up to practice.”

“Didn’t you hear? He ain’t feeling well!” Ryuji broke, leaning in to stare down Kamoshida. 

But the teacher did not pay any attention to him, “ Well, Mishima? Are you coming to practice or not?”

“...I’ll go.” Kamoshida gave a satisfied smile at that while Mishima hung his head. 

He turned to the three who opposed him, starting with Ryuji. “As for you, any more trouble and you’ll be gone from this school for sure.” 

“Bastard…” 

“Same goes for you. Didn’t the principal tell you to keep in line.” He looked to Akira, who only gave a small smile that looked almost genuine. 

“You have an amazing spike, just wanted to let you know.” His tone was lined with sarcasm hidden behind fake wonder.

Kamoshida was not amused. “Hmph. Just don’t get in the way of my practice. All these unsettling rumors are making the students anxious after all.” He gave a short laugh that attempted to be unheard, “I’m sure you’d know all about that, huh?”

“That’s your own goddamn fault.” Without hesitation, Ryuji quickly bit back. 

“This won’t get us anywhere. Let’s go, Mishima. Shujin Academy is a place where those with aspirations come to learn. Unworthy students like yourselves don’t have any right to be here. Get with the program!”

“Yes sir…”

Kyotaro felt his chest tighten as Kamoshida looked over his shoulder. The man spoke in a low volume that could shake the ground. "And Watanabe… I suggest you find the right crowd." 

With those words, he left the four of them in an uncomfortable position. Ryuji growled as soon as he disappeared from sight. “That asshole.... He’s gonna pay for this!” 

“There’s no point. Proving that he’s physically abusing us… is meaningless.” Mishima’s meek voice caught them off guard, he barely raised his head to talk. “Everyone knows; the principal, our parents… they all know, and they keep quiet about it.”

“This has gotta be a joke…” Ryuji spoke, shocked as if that bit of information had hit him like a truck.

“...Don’t be a pain. You don’t understand what I’m going through. Shouldn’t you of all people know that nothing’s going to help…!?” The blonde turned away, unable to look at Mishima as he left the three in silence. 

“Dammit…”

Akira spoke up, his voice low and steady. “So, are we going to leave it here?”

“No, I ain’t givin’ up.” Ryuji attempted to gain some control of the situation, his tone struggled to be stern and determined . “...I’ll try one more time to persuade the other guys. That’s… all I can do.”

Kyotaro sighed, “I guess that’s _all_ we can do…”

After that, the three broke apart and left to change in their uniforms. Kyotaro struggled to keep his mind off of the abuse and its lack of acknowledgement. If the authorities didn’t care about it, then how the hell were they gonna get it to stop? 

“Kyotaro?” A familiar voice knocked him out of his funk. Turning his head, he saw Makoto behind him who looked quite puzzled. “Hey, how was the volleyball rally.” 

“Yeah, it was okay. Made a few friends, I laughed, I cried. It was beautiful.” He jested, forcing a smile on his face. Makoto’s expression did not change but she could be heard exhaling out of her nostrils. 

“I’m assuming these friends of yours are Sakamoto and Kurusu?” Kyotaro did a double take at this before giving an awkward laugh. 

“Oh, you caught me! Yeah, we’re just… just hanging out. It’s nothing really. Heck, I would say that they’re really nice guys. Despite… what people might say.” Makoto only nodded her head, humming at his words. Kyotaro furrowed his brows for a second, trying to understand her reaction. 

“Well, alright. I suppose I can’t control who you spend time with.” She giggled in her hand, “I’m just glad that you have other friends.” 

“Uh-huh… Thanks, _mom._ ” Kyotaro deadpanned, leaving the two in a prolonged silence before he hesitantly brought up something that bounced in his mind. “Hey, Mako… Kam- _Mr. Kamoshida…_ I’ve heard some rumors about him.”

She locked up at the mention of the PE teacher but she quickly recovered before Kyotaro could take note of it. He continued, “Just some stuff about… uh, special coaching or whatever.” 

“I see.”

“Well, is it true? As president, you would know this stuff right?” Makoto furrowed her brows and glanced to the side, causing Kyotaro to reel back a bit.

“They’re rumors…” She said while her head was tilted to the side yet her posture was frozen still. She continued with her mouth hidden behind her fingers. “I can’t… I can’t tell you more about that, I don’t know what’s going on with Kamoshida and his team. I…"

"I get it." Kyotaro feigned a light smile. "I was just a little curious. But hey, maybe you can tell me any other juicy stories instead. Huh? C'mon Mako, you gotta know something floating around!"

Makoto recovered, brushing her bangs as she sighed. "My role is student council president not your little journalist."

"Yeah whatever." Kyotaro laughed, trying to hold back his disappointment. He turned around, letting his smile falter. "Well, see you later Mako!"

As soon as he broke away from Makoto, he let out a sigh. She was lying about not knowing what Kamoshida was doing, it was written on her face. Even Makoto wouldn't do anything to stop Kamoshida's abuse. 

So what the hell were they supposed to do? 


	10. Searching For An Answer

**[Ryuji S.] Hey, this don’t make any damn sense.**

**[Kyo W.] Your grammar?**

**[Ryuji S.] No, how everyone is just ignoring the abuse!**

**[Ryuji S.] The principal and even the parents know about it.**

**[Ryuji S.] Why ain’t anybody speaking up?!**

**[Akira K.] Because of volleyball, if they keep their mouths shut then they continue to gain. All they care about is the results.**

**[Kyo W.] Damn… I could believe that deflated egg could turn a blind eye but the parents? It makes me sick...**

**[Ryuji S.] Just because Kamoshida made the team famous, doesn’t mean that gives him the right to do whatever he wants!**

**[Ryuji S.] He’s beating kids up, and all they’re allowed to do is endure.**

**[Ryuji S.] And that follower of his doesn’t give one shit…**

**[Kyo W.] Who?**

**[Akira K.] Who?**

**[Ryuji S.] Ann Takamaki.**

**[Ryuji S.] You met her in the courtyard, remember Akira? You should know her. I mean, she’s in your class, dude.**

**[Ryuji S.] Ugh! What a load of bull! I can’t let it end like this.**

**[Ryuji S.] I’m gonna try and find someone who knows about what’s going one with Kamoshida during break tomorrow.**

**[Ryuji S.] Just you watch. I ain’t giving up!**

**[Kyo W.] Well, keep those spirits up Champ. We might just get that bastard.**

* * *

**Day: April 14th: Thursday**

**Time: Afternoon**

**Location: Shujin Academy**

* * *

Kyotaro’s fingers lazily danced all over his desk as the class listened to Mr. Inui’s lecture. As he was counting the numbers of breath he took for the last five minutes, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Giving a glance, he saw Ryuji holding his phone. Kyotaro slowly moved himself so as to keep Ryuji’s texting hidden as they whispered in the most quiet of voices. 

“Meet up in the courtyard.” The bleach blonde whispered as he leaned in beside Kyotaro’s ear.

“Is this where I’ll get mugged or…?”

“Just meet us in the courtyard when school’s over, it’s important.”

“Will do…” 

After dealing with another round of the montotenaus cycle of subjects known as school, the three rebels joined together to discuss their next move. Akira looked a bit distraught, giving a glance or two at the building he arrived from while Ryuji was grumbling with his arms folded. 

The blonde quietly expressed his anger to no one in particular, “Dammit, what the hell…”

“What happened?” Kyotaro asked.

“I tried finding some others who would speak up about Kamoshida, but all of ‘em kept sayin’ the same shit Mishima was talkin’ about!” Ryuji slammed a fist against one of the vending machines as his head dropped. “Kamoshida had to have told ‘em something! At this rate… it looks like we’ll have to go to him directly...”

Akira shot this idea down quickly with a shake of his head, “There’s no point, if we go to Kamoshida then he’ll just deny it or worse.” 

“I know… But seriously, isn’t there something we can do? No way I’m gonna give in like this! Can you think of anything?” 

“Let’s call the cops, leave it to the authorities.” Kyotaro proposed, but Ryuji countered his point immediately. 

"So you wanna tell ‘em about the castle? They’d never believe us…” The blonde sighed and shook his head, “Have any other ideas…? What do we do…?” 

The three stirred in a short silence, trying to individually rack their brains on how they should proceed. But it was Akira who had the most unusual proposal. The curly haired teen confidently said, “Let’s punish the king.”

“The king…? You mean that other world’s Kamoshida?” Ryuji asked, getting a nod from Akira.

“Yeah, I’m getting a hunch that the castle might be our answer.” Akira played with a lock of his hair as he furrowed his brows, unsure if he was correct or if his theory held any water.

Kyotaro clicked his tongue, “Dude, seems kinda out there‒”

“I finally found you…” A familiar high pitched voice called out to the three of them. When they turned their heads, they expected some girl or at least a guy who hadn’t hit that stage of puberty.

What they found was a black cat pacing towards them. While Ryuji and Akira looked around for the source of the voice, Kyotaro kneeled down to chat with their eavesdropper. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing little guy?”

“I was looking for you three idiots!” Seeing the cat just move it’s lips and produce words caused Kyotaro to fall on his rear end in shock, and caused Akira and Ryuji to turn their heads. The cat jumped onto the table and began, “Don’t think you can just leave me in the dust after everything I did for you.” 

“That voice… Is that you, Morgana!?” Ryuji asked as he leaned in to face their unannounced acquaintance. 

“How dare you, up and leaving me the other day!”

“The cat’s talkin’!?” 

“I am NOT a cat!” The 'cat' identified as Morgana retorted, “This is just what happened when I came to this world! It was a lot of trouble finding you three.”

“Wait… You came to our world!? Does that mean you’ve got a phone!?” That comment from Ryuji got a chuckle from both Akira and Kyotaro, the image of a cat holding a P.A.D flashed into their minds. 

“You don’t need one when you’re at my level.” How vague, Kyotaro mentally commented. “I did get pretty lost making my escape though…”

“That aside, why can you talk!? You’re a cat!”

“How should I know!?” 

“Well I guess you don’t have all the answers, huh?” Kyotaro jested, to which Morgana hissed at. 

Ryuji gave an exasperated sigh and turned to Akira. Asking him as if he needed some sort of validation that they weren’t crazy. “You hearin’ this too?” 

Akira slightly tilted his head and made his eyes soft, “Meow?”

“This is no time to be jokin’ around!” Ryuji shouted with Kyotaro stifling a giggle beside him. 

“You guys are having a rough time with this, hm? I heard you mention something about witnesses.” Morgana said in a snide voice, his little cat lips curling into a smile. 

Ryuji pursed his lips, “Oh, shuddup…”

“You know, I could tell you a thing or two about what to do about Kamoshida. You were pretty close just a moment ago.”

“God, that condescendin’ attitude!” Ryuj threw his hands up in the air. “This thing’s gotta be Morgana!”

“You were still doubting me!?”

“Ack! Quiet down!” 

The four of them turned their heads at the sounds of footsteps in the courtyard, they saw a teacher and a student examining the area. Based on what they heard, they could have only heard meowing instead of a talking cat. Either that, or they heard Akira pulling Ryuji’s leg a minute ago. 

“Hm, so we’re the only ones who can hear you like this?” Kyotaro rubbed the back of his neck as he looked to Morgana. 

“Looks like it.” The cat nodded it's head. 

“What the hell’s goin’ on…? Anyways, what you were talkin’ about earlier… is it for real?” Ryuji’s head could be seen going through the motions, his face scrunched up as he began piecing together the puzzle. 

But like before, Morgana wasn’t so gentle with the blonde’s intelligence. “You’re quite the skeptic for being an idiot.”

“Hey, tell us more. Then again, this probably ain’t the best place...” Ryuji ignored the rude comment, instead focusing on their strange situation. What with the fact that they were talking to a cat. He grabbed Morgana by the collar and heaved him up to Akira. “Here, stick it in your bag for now! It should be just small enough to fit!” 

“Hey! How dare you treat me like‒” 

“Got it.” 

Akira grabbed Morgana and slipped him into his bag in one swift motion. The cat yelped out a muffled meow that the three ignored. They moved inconspicuously to the roof as Morgana complained in the bag. Getting a few eyes towards their way but not enough to cause a scene. When they did arrive, they placed the bag onto the ground and Morgana subsequently slipped out in a huff. 

“Don’t be so rough with me!” 

“No time to complain!” Kyotaro said with a small smile on his face before getting serious, “You said that you knew what to do about Kamoshida, right?” 

“It has to do with what this guy was talking about earlier, yes.” Morgana cleared his throat, “You’ll need to attack his castle.”

“Gee, what a brilliant idea. Maybe we’ll bring our non-existent army to join us and take him down.” Kyotaro deadpanned.

“Shut it…” Morgana said in a dead voice before explaining once again, “That castle is how Kamoshida views this school. He doesn’t realize what happens in there, but it’s deeply connected to the depths of his heart. Thus, if the castle disappears, it would naturally impact the real Kamoshida.” 

Ryuji’s eyes widened at this, “What’d happen?” 

“A Palace is a manifestation of a person’s distorted desires. So, if that castle were no more…”

“Lemme guess… He would die?”

“You, weirdo. Stop talking!” Morgana demanded, raising a paw towards Kyotaro after his accusatory comment. 

Akira threw a serious possibility into the ring, “Then his desires would go too.” 

“Precisely!” Morgana nodded with a smile, “You sure pick up things fast!”

Ryuji’s brows raised at the prospect of this. “For real!? H-He’s gonna turn good!? But… is that really gettin’ back at him?”

“Erasing a Palace essentially means forcing the owner to have a change of heart. However, even though their warped wants disappear, the crimes they committed remain. Kamoshida will become unable to bear the weight of those crimes, and he’ll confess them himself!” 

“You for real!? That’s possible!?” 

“And since the Palace will no longer exist, he’ll forget what we did there as well. Not only will we be able to bring Kamoshida down, but there won’t even be a trace of our involvement.” Kyotaro skeptically furrowed his brows hearing this from Morgana. It sounded too good to be true. 

“That’s amazing! You are one incredible cat!” Ryuji cheered.

“True, except for the cat part!” 

“Okay,” Kyotaro slowly began with a hint of skepticism in his voice. “How does one go about getting rid of a palace?” 

“By stealing the Treasure held within.”

Kyotaro raised a brow, “What do you mean by stealing? And what do you mean by treasure?”

“I’ll tell you more once you agree to go ahead with this. It’s my most valuable, secret plan, after all.” A heavy sigh came from both Ryuji and Kyotaro, being kept in the dark wasn’t exactly the most ideal situation to be in. They let Morgana continue, “If you want to help me out, I’ll gladly teach you. What’s your call?”

“Our luck’s runnin’ dry lookin’ for witnesses.” Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head, “Guess we have no choice but to go along…”

“You’re right, if we have a chance then it’s best to take it.” Akira nodded, his voice quiet yet stern. Behind him was Kyotaro humming in agreement, his eyes darted away as he frowned. 

“...Good. Oh, right. There’s one more thing I should tell you.” _Oh boy,_ the three thought. “If we erase a Palace, there is no doubt that the person’s distorted desires will be erased as well. But desires are what we all need in order to survive. The will to sleep, eat, fall in love—those sorts of things.” 

Ryuji leaned in, eyes widened and jaw somewhat agape. “What’re you gettin’ at?”

Morgana slowly explained, “If all of those yearnings were to vanish, they’d be no different than someone who has shut down entirely. They may even die if they’re not given proper care. So…”

“They might die?!” Ryuji reeled back in shock at how casually the cat just insinuated it.

“Will you listen to everything I have to say first?”

“Yeah, I think it’s hard to listen to you when the words ‘may even die’ are just thrown out there.” Kyotaro added as he threw his hands into the air. “Are you saying we could kill someone like this?” 

Morgana asked, his voice low and serious. “Aren’t you determined enough to face those kinds of risks?”

Ryuji and Kyotaro looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say. They both looked to Akira, who twirled a lock of his hair around and sighed. He answered in a near whisper, “I don’t want to kill someone. No matter how shitty of a person they are. I don’t think I could ever bring myself to do it. And… it looks like you two can’t either.”

“O-Of course.”

“Yeah…” 

Morgana scoffed, “Sheesh… I come all this way, and this is what I get. It’s not like anyone will ever find out.”

“That’s not the point!” Ryuji shouted. “If we just go around secretly doin’ whatever we want, we’d be no different than that effin’ Kamoshida…”

“Isn’t this your only option? ...I’ll come back later. Make sure you’ve made your decision by then.” Morgana turned his tail around, crawled up the fence, and jumped off the roof. Leaving the three in silence. 

Ryuji stomped his foot, “Man, we’re gettin’ all worked up for nothing… Dammit!”

“Freakin’ psychopathic cat…” Kyotaro spat and began to mock in a high pitched voice. “ _Why don’t you kill him, it’ll be easy! Nyeh, nyeh, nya!_ Yeah, right…” 

The three collectively took a sigh, shared unsure glances, and then took another sigh. After racking their brains then getting their hopes up then only for those hopes to get shot down, let’s just say it took a lot out of them. Ryuji spoke up, “I’ll try and see if I can figure out another way… C’mon, let’s get outta here.” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

**[Ryuji S.] Hey, I heard something that got my attention.**

**[Kyo W.] Will it be helpful in any way?**

**[Ryuji S.] Maybe, it’s about that Suzui girl. Looks like rumors are going around about her and Kamoshida.**

**[Ryuji S.] If they’re true, it’s no wonder I couldn’t get her to talk to me.**

**[Ryuji S.] Still, something about that doesn’t seem right.**

**[Akira K.] What do you mean?**

**[Ryuji S.] It’s just impossible. I’ve known Takamaki and Suzui since middle school. There’s just no way Kamoshida’s their type, y’know? So… I gotta wonder where those rumors came from.**

**[Kyo W.] Well, the ones that would know the truth are probably Takamaki and Suzui.**

**[Ryuji S.] Well, whatever. I’ll try asking around some more.**

* * *

**Day: April 14th: Thursday**

**Time: After School**

**Location: Shibuya**

* * *

“God… This sucks.” Kyotaro sighed as he and Akira made their way to Shibuya. “I can’t believe we got nowhere, it makes me sick just to imagine that bastard having Shujin by the‒”

“Shh…” Akira held out an arm and stopped Kyotaro from walking. 

“Well, _thanks_ for that. I‒” 

“Will you please give it a rest?!” A familiar voice caused Kyotaro to look where Akira was glancing at. It was Takamaki, on the phone and sounded quite frustrated. “I told you, I’m not feeling up to it… Wait, what?! That’s not what you promised! And you call yourself a teacher?!”

The two frowned at that, if they had to guess who on the other line with her… 

“This has nothing to do with Shiho!” There was a long pause that followed that, along with Takamaki’s face dropping. She slowly curled into a ball, her arms wrapped around her knees. “Shiho’s… Starting position… ”

Kyotaro looked the other direction, planning on walking away to allow the girl to sulk by herself. However, he flinched when he noticed Akira walk closer to the girl. This led to Takamaki noticing the two of them and backing away with an uneasy expression on her face. 

"Wait… Were you two listening?" She asked in bewilderment, almost snappy based on her tone of voice. 

"Not on purpose." Akira said gently. To which Kyotaro had elbowed him for putting them into this awkward situation. 

“Haven’t you heard of privacy?” Takamaki looked quite angry with the two, her brows furrowed and lips were pressed together. But she took a deep breath and addressed them in a calm manner. “...No, I was out of line. Sorry. So how much did you hear…?”

Akira answered with some slight hesitation in his voice, “It was something about a friend. Are you… alright, Takamaki-san?” 

“Shiho…” Her voice began to break at the name, her eyes welled up and her shoulders began shaking. Takamaki wiped the tears and sniffled, “It’s nothing at all. Nothing..”

Without another word, she ran off. Hiding her face from the two of them as she tightly squeezed the strap of her bag. Kyotaro looked at Akira, thinking that he would say something about ‘going home, leaving her alone, and not digging into someone else’s business’. But _no_ … Akira, without hesitation, chased after her. And for some reason or whatever, Kyotaro decided to play ‘follow the leader’ with him. 

“Dude, what the hell!” Kyotaro called out as he chased after Akira from behind.

“We can’t just leave her behind!” Akira defended with more emotion that Kyotaro’s ever heard from him. 

“Why not? It’s clear she wants it that way!” 

Kyotaro was astounded by the fact that so many people ignored what was going on. Two guys chasing down an emotionally fragile girl yet everyone went about their day. Whatever the reason, they continued to follow her. Leading to the Shibuya Station underground, where they found Takamaki slowing down by multicolored pillars. Once they reached her, Takamaki turned around with an irritated expression. 

“Stop following me… Just leave me alone!” She demanded. To which Kyotaro sneakily glanced over to Akira to step up to respond. 

“Are you okay?” Akira’s voice was gentle, he was to the point, and just those three words caused the girl to break down her defensive stance. 

“Why…” She sobbed, barely able to make out the words. “Why do you keep worrying about me?” 

“I… I just want to talk. _We_ want to talk to you.” Akira gestured to Kyotaro, who was busy frozen in uncertainty. 

He simply nodded along and attempted to look as sincere as possible. Really… he couldn’t handle a situation like. But Takamaki was still a bit curious and maybe even hesitant about them. 

“What the heck?” She asked as she recovered from her tears, “I don’t get you two…”

“Mhm…” Kyotaro coughed before speaking in a slow speech pattern. “How we head to the Big Bang Burger nearby and then… we can talk.” 

They did exactly that, where they found a table and sat in an uncomfortable atmosphere. Akira and Takamaki had glasses of water beside them while Kyotaro went ahead and ordered a burger and soda from the place. Akira gave him a stink eye for adding onto the awkward situation while Takamaki sat in silence. 

But things changed when she finally spoke after taking a sip from her glass. She said in a frigid cold tone, “I don’t have anything to talk about. Whatever you two overheard, it was just an argument.” 

“With Kamoshida, right?” As soon as those words left Akira’s mouth, the whole room seemed to cave in. Leaving the three in a cramp space with Takamaki slowly feeling the weight of the pressure. 

“You’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you?” She began, “About Kamoshida. Everyone says we’re getting it on. But… That’s not so true!” She tilted her head, shadow’s blocked the tears gradually forming. “That _was_ him on the other line. I avoided giving him my number… for the longest time… He told me to go to his place after this… You know what that means.” The napkin in her hand crumbled as her grip tightened. 

Kyotaro looked away, unable to even lift a finger. He was frozen stiff at the thought. His body cringed thinking about the rabbit hole of Kamoshida’s abuse. His blood boiled yet he shrank into deep silence. And it looked like Akira had the same reaction, the way he looked away in discomfort. Here they were, watching this girl break down and yet they were speechless. Unable to say anything to help. 

“I’ve had enough of this… I hate him!” She growled, the drops began to fall onto the table. “But still… Shiho’s my best friend. She’s all I have left at that sorry excuse of a school!” Takamaki looked to Akira, her eyes desperate. “Tell me… What should I do…?” 

Akira kept stern. But under the table, he could be seen clawing at his knees. Kyotaro backed away in his seat, knowing he didn’t have anything to say. Feeling worthless as they saw this girl beg for some sort of direction and sense of help in her situation. 

Taka-... Ann calmed down, “ Sorry… I shouldn’t have asked. It’s not your problem.”

“No,” Kyotaro spoke up, shaking his head at that. “We came to you, you don’t need to apologize for anything.” 

“Thanks but I… What am I saying?” She asked herself, shaking her head. “I’ve barely talked to either of you before this.”

“Maybe that’s why?” Akira proposed, “This is cathartic in a way, just letting out what you’ve wanted to say for a long time now.” 

“...You might be right.” She mumbled in agreement, “...You’re so weird. Usually everyone just ignores me. Are you really a bad person as the rumor says…? You just don’t seem like it…” 

“I’m bad to the bone.” Akira deadpanned to which Ann had raised a brow at. 

“Is that supposed to be funny?” She looked over to Kyotaro, “And you… You always have something… _stupid_ to say. I never pegged you for one to sit down and talk.” 

“Well, I’m glad you think so highly of me…”

“Like that, for example.” Kyotaro frowned in silence as she continued, “I guess what everyone’s been saying about you two were all exaggerations. You both seem… like you don’t belong. I guess I’m kinda like that too. Being at Shujin is like, I’m a fish out of water there. I think that’s why I was able to take to you two so easily.” 

Akira and Kyotaro quickly shared a look, unsure of what to make of this. Ann asked, getting their attention back, her voice a bit shaky. “Is there really no way to help Shiho? I‒I wish he’d just change his mind… Like, forget about me, and everything… As if something like that would ever happen…”

“Maybe, that could happen.” Kyotaro kicked Akira under the table for just saying that, facing Ann with a blank face as he did while she noticed Akira cringe in pain. 

“Hopefully it could but that’s just hoping and we all know that’s impossible to just change someone’s mind in a snap like that. Right, _Kurusu_?” He said in one breath. Ann gave him a sharp glare and pursed her lips at that, causing him to reel back a bit. 

“Hm, I wasn’t asking for a _serious_ response. But I do feel a bit better now. ...I’m gonna head home.” Kyotaro was about to give a sigh of relief until his breath was stopped when she turned around with the same sharp glare. “Right, don’t tell anyone what I told you. Ok? I’ll try and think of a way to persuade Kamoshida. Well… thanks.” 

And with that, she was gone. Kyotaro turned to Akira with a small smile on his face.

“Good, well I’m glad that turned out as well as it did‒ AH! MOTHER FAH…”

Only to be kicked in the shin by Akira in revenge… 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“Hey, how come you’re late? And… What’s up with the limp?” Ayaka asked as she saw her nephew enter the room. 

“I ran into a foot, and it broke my leg.” Kyotaro said in a dull voice. To which Ayaka chortled at. 

As he sat down, she called out to him as she walked over to the fridge. “By the way, Sae asked me to say hello to you. So… _‘hello’_.”

“Ok... why?” Kyotaro was curious about why now in particular, it wasn’t like they weren’t _that_ close. She was always so busy at the office, that even Makoto barely had the chance to have dinner with her.

“Oh come one!” Ayaka placed down her fruit milk onto the table and began waving her hands around like it was a show. “Whatever happened to, ‘Big Sis Sae’?” 

“That’s because you told me to call her that!‒ Alright, tell her I said hi.” Kyotaro sighed, waving off his aunt’s overeagerness. When he thought back to earlier in the day, he got serious. “Ayaka… You care about me, right?” 

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that I do.” Ayaka said in a matter-of-fact tone. 

“Then, if I was being… used or manipulated or even… _abused_ then what would you do?”

“What? What’s happening at school?!” She exclaimed, losing breath as she did.

“No! Nothing, nothing’s… happened to me.” Kyotaro sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m talking hypotheticals, everything’s… _okay_.” 

In truth, Kyotaro found some comfort that he had someone who cared about him. But it made him sick to his stomach that there are parents who would allow abuse of their children just for the sake of winning volleyball matches. However, he had no idea where to begin. He thought about just abandoning his role to take down Kamoshida, if the authorities wouldn’t do anything then what could three troublemakers do? But he couldn’t leave Akira and Ryuji in the dust like that… 

Abandoning friends like that, especially ones that put this much trust into him, then what would that make him?


	11. Boiling Point

**[Ryuji S.] So, whaddya think about what Morgana told us?**

**[Ryuji S.] I dunno if I get all that stuff about stealing desires… And Kamoshida’s gonna turn like, brain dead if we mess up, right?**

**[Ryuji S.] I mean, I’m sure pissed at him…**

**[Ryuji S.] But I don’t if I really want to kill the guy...**

**[Kyo W.] I think it’s psychotic, to just kill someone like it’s no big deal.**

**[Akira K.] Yeah, that’s too much.**

**[Ryuji S.] For sure. I mean, maybe I’m just freaking out, but I don’t wanna end up a murderer cause of this shit.**

**[Ryuji S.] Oh well… I’ll try and see if I can come up with some other way tonight.**

**[Kyo W.] Maybe we can find some investigator and have them blow the whistle for us?**

**[Akira K.] I don’t think anyone will go off the word of some highschoolers with a history of troublemaking. Plus, they’ll probably see it as a waste of time.**

**[Ryuji. S] Yeah… we’re all on our own here. Ugh! I’ll find a way, just you wait!**

* * *

**Day: April 15th: Friday**

**Time: Early Morning**

**Location: Shujin Academy**

* * *

“I can’t believe Suzui-senpai missed such an important meeting. I wonder what happened.” Two first-year girls conversed in front of Akira and Kyotaro. To which the two of them listened in closely at the mention of ‘Suzui’.

“Mr. Kamoshida asked to see her…”

“You know, I’ve been hearing rumors about how Mr. Kamoshida and Suzui-senpai stay late… She always shows up to meetings though. It’s weird she wasn’t at the one yesterday…” 

Kyotaro turned to Akira as they walked, “That’s Takamaki’s friend, the one that Kamoshida would take off the team right? Based on that, I have a feeling Kamoshida’s been… doing what he's done before.”

“Right, I think we need to talk to Suzui.” Akira nodded as he gnawed at his upper lip. “Something tells me she really needs help if Kamoshida has been spending time around her.”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Ms. Usami’s lesson seemed to fade in the back of Kyotaro’s head. His mind wandered off to the proposed plan to talk to Suzui, if they had the chance. But he was interrupted when he felt something tap his shoulder, Ryuji, who signalled him to pull out his phone. And once Kyotaro did, he found a text from him. 

**[Ryuji. S] It’s no use… I can’t think another way.**

**[Akira K.] Concentrate on class, we’ll talk about Kamoshida later.**

**[Ryuji S.] I can’t deal with that shit right now. I mean, what ARE we gonna do about Kamoshida? Do we just gotta go along with what that cat says? Urgh, that damn furball…**

**[Kyo W.] Look, me and Akira decided to talk to Suzui afterschool. We overheard some girls talk about her and Kamoshida, she might be able to testify. We don’t know until then, though.**

... Is what Kyotaro _would_ have typed, if not for what came next.

“Hey, What’s that?!” 

“Sit back down, now’s not the time for‒”

“Suzui! She’s gonna jump!”

The whole class went into disarray as they flooded out of the class, ignoring Ms. Usami’s calls to return to their seats. They rushed to the windows where they watched it all unfold. Kyotaro and Ryuji stood in the hallways, where the blonde began rushing to meet with Akira. However, Kyotaro stepped into the group beside the window. Where he saw Suzui…

It was hard to just describe how everyone’s heart just stopped after seeing the girl fall off the edge. Tilting forward as if she had barely enough energy to do it. And how breaths just escaped from everyone. Kyotaro felt himself retreat backwards, as if what he saw was just some hallucination. To see someone lose the will to live, and end it all right before someone’s eyes. But it wasn’t, Suzui fell off that building.

“Damn…! Damn it!” Kyotaro rushed over to the courtyard, holding his breath for Suzui’s survival. That height couldn’t kill someone, could it? There had to be a chance she was alive, and he needed to see that she lived. Someone he barely knew, barely had an interaction with. But he needed to know that she was alive. 

He reached the courtyard entrance, blocked by a crowd that was pushed up against the glass. “God damn it!”

“Kyotaro!” Ryuji frantically called out from behind, “There’s no way we’re gonna get past all these goddamn people… C’mon, let’s try goin’ through the practice buildin’!” 

“Right…” Kyotaro growled, tailing behind Akira and Ryuji down the hallway. As they did, he only got more infuriated. Listening to the students treating it like some attraction made him sick. Nothing’s changed… No matter who it is. 

The entrance near the practice building was scarce, it was here they saw students crowd around the scene like animals. The sounds of camera’s flickering could be heard muffled behind the glass and voices practically filled the school by now. As Akira and Ryuji went ahead, Kyotaro found Makoto talking to a teacher.

“I-It’s going to be a huge problem if this turns into a scandal! And do keep in mind that class is currently in session… I’m certain you understand.” 

Makoto looked dejected, unnoticed by Kyotaro as he stared daggers into the back of the teacher’s head. But what he did hear had shot him out of his state, “...Understood, I’ll go outside and notify the student’s outside.” 

The teacher ran off, leaving Makoto alone to do her job. But before she could walk out those doors, she was stopped when Kyotaro grabbed her by the arm. He spoke coldly, “What the hell…?! Is this school, seriously going to just ignore this! Suzui could be dead outside! Hurt, heavily injured, damn near crippled, any of the sort‒ but the school doesn’t care! Makoto, you’re just gonna comply with this?!”

“... I have a job to do, Kyotaro.” That was all she said before slipping out of his grasp and walked out to round out the students with the principal. It was as if he had a knife being plunged into his gut, nobody cared…

But he did not have much time to think, as he saw Ryuji catch Mishima by the arm and pulled him towards the building with Akira beside him. He let the door open for them, Ryuji silently continued to pull Mishima and pushed him into a corner. Kyotaro joined the two in this odd hazing of sorts, unsure of what was going on.

“That hurts!” Mishima cried out, raising his hands in defense as Ryuji stepped forward. 

“Why’d you run like that? Huh!?”

"I didn't run…" 

Kyotaro decided on keeping his mouth shut for once. He was in the dark here, and he couldn't contribute to anything. He looked to Akira, who’s almost expressionless eyes had now shown a subtle flare of intensity. 

“She jumped and tried to kill herself!” Ryuji stomped his foot in anger. 

Mishima stepped back a bit, his shoulders raised in defense. “ …L-Leave me alone…”

“Just tell us.” Akira said calmly, though he seemed a bit snappy based on his tone.

“He’s right! We ain’t tryin’ to get you busted. We won’t say you talked either!” Ryuji joined in, lightening up the tension with a more subdued passion in his voice. 

Mishima paused, his head dropped to the ground, and his eyes were crestfallen. He said in a whisper that gradually grew louder, “Suzui… She was called out by Mr. Kamoshida!” 

Ryuji reeled back in surprise, “Wait, what!?” 

“I was called by him a number of times too… to the teacher’s room. It wasn’t just me or Suzui either. He’d nominate someone when he was in a bad mood… and hit them.”

“So the physical punishment thing was for real…” The blonde gnawed at his lip in frustration.

“But yesterday, he called Suzui out of the blue. She didn’t make any mistakes or anything… Mr. Kamoshida seemed really irritated that day, so it must’ve been… worse than usual…”

“He didn’t…!” Ryuji exclaimed in an airy voice, “That son of a bitch!”

Without warning, Ryuji ran off. Fists tightened and nails dug into his palms. Gritting his teeth as he rushed up the stairs.

Kyotaro called out, “Hey! Where are you going?!”

“I bet…” Mishima began, “Sakamoto’s going to find Mr. Kamoshida… He might be in his office on the second floor.”

Kyotaro nodded, turning to Akira. “Right, let’s stop him before he does something stupid!”

Akira mumbled something before running off, Kyotaro and Mishima following close behind. Once they reached the 2nd floor, they saw Ryuji run into the faculty office. Kyotaro cringed at this, the last thing he wanted was to see that bastard’s face. 

“He went into the PE faculty office! Let’s hurry, we have to go after him.” Mishima and Akira both ran into the office, while Kyotaro lagged behind. His feet failed him. 

Whatever the reason, the thought of seeing Kamoshida’s face made him sick. If it really was that son-of-a-bitch that pushed Suzui to that point, then Kyotaro just couldn’t bear to be in the same room as him. But he continued but before he could enter the office, the sounds of tension growing had stopped him. 

“You bastard! The hell did you do to that girl!?” Ryuji shouted with a great fire in his voice. Kyotaro instinctively stepped backward, listening into the confrontation. 

“What are you talking about?” Kamoshida sounded almost real but Kyotaro could hear the hidden malicious in it. 

The sound of a chair being kicked could be heard as Ryuji lashed out, “Don’t play dumb with me!”

“That’s enough!”

“What you did… wasn’t coaching!” Amongst this, Mishima’s voice could be heard shaking. “You… You ordered me to call Suzui here… I can only imagine what you did to her…!”

But Kamoshida would have none of this, “You’re going on and on about things you have no proof of… Basically, you’re simply making these claims because you can’t be a regular on the team, right?” 

“That’s not what this is about…!” Mishima attempted to stand firm but tremor was rampant in his voice. 

“Even if it is exactly as you imagine to be, hypothetically speaking… What can you do?” Kyotaro felt his lung drop to his stomach. He couldn’t be that evil, to take advantage of a girl’s suicide attempt and brush it off?! But his thoughts were proven incorrect.

“We just received a call from the hospital. Suzui’s in a coma, and her chances of recovery are slim… How would someone like that make a statement?” The amount of slime he spewed out could cause anyone to burst with anger. “There’s no chance of her getting better, I hear… The poor girl.”

“No… That can’t be…”

Ryuji could be heard stepping forward, most likely seeing crimson at this point. “ You goddamn…!” 

“This, again…?” Kamoshida’s sinister voice interrupted Ryuji’s anger, only to add fuel to the inferno. “Does this mean we need to have yet another case of ‘self-defense’?”

“You shut your mouth, you son of a bitch!” Kyotaro could imagine what came next from what he heard. Ryuji raised his fist, not thinking or caring about what came next so long as he had the chance to deck the ‘fucker in the face. But Akira wouldn’t let that happen. 

“ Why’re you stoppin’ me…!?” 

“Calm down.” Akira's voice was quiet but he could be heard shaking in anger. “Hitting him will just make it worse.”

“But still!”

“Oh? You’re stopping him? What a surprise. There’s no need to hold back. Why not attack me? ...Ohhh, you can’t. Hahaha, but of course you can’t.” Hearing this would have made Kyotaro come into and… do something or rather. But what came next, it would have made Kyotaro rush in and claw the bastard’s eyes out if it wasn’t for his hesitation. 

“Everyone present right now… will be expelled. I’m reporting all of you at the next board meeting.”

Mishima muttered up some more courage at an attempt to retaliate, “You can’t make a decision like that…!” 

“Who would seriously consider what scum like you say? You threatened me too, Mishima, so you’re just as responsible.” Mishima’s breath could be heard stopping at what Kamoshida said. “To think you didn’t know why I kept someone as talentless as you on the team. You act like you’re a victim, but you leaked his criminal records, didn’t you? It’s all over the internet, correct? How terrible.”

“Mishima?” Akira sounded betrayed at this, “ _You_ did that?” 

The sounds of knees falling to the ground could be heard, “He told me to do it… I had no choice.” 

“Now, are we finished here?” Kamoshida laughed a sickening laugh, “You’re all expelled! You’re done for; your futures are mine to take. Now get out of my sight.” 

Ryuji and Akira had trotted over to the frame of the door, where they saw Kyotaro near the wall. Ryuji scowled at him for a moment before giving a crestfallen sigh. Kyotaro rubbed his arm and looked to the ground in silence, not even a word yet it felt like he was punched in the gut. 

Ryuji turned to Akira, not bothering to acknowledge Kyotaro. “I can’t believe this asshole’s gettin’ away with this…!” 

“He’ll eat his words,” Akira looked between the two of them as he spoke with confidence. “We only have one other option, I think we should use it.”

Ryuji quietly coughed before giving a stern nod, “Right…” 

“Huh? Have you lost your minds? Why are you standing in my doorway?” Kamoshida growled from his desk, “I don’t understand what garbage like you are thinking, but go ahead and try. All you can do is wait for your disposal though…”

With that, the three silently rushed to the courtyard. Where they met up with Morgana for their next step.

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Ryuji slammed his fist into a vending machine, “We can’t waste any time. We gotta hurry up and go to that world and beat the shit outta that asshole!”

“...We’re not beating him up.” Morgana corrected, “We’re simply stealing his distorted desires. Can I assume that you’ve made up your minds about this—about how he might suffer a mental shutdown?”

“...I have.” The venom in Ryuji’s voice was transparent, unbridled hate fueled him. “Someone almost died because of him! I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to him anymore!” 

Morgana turned to both Akira and Kyotaro, his eyes determined and stern as he waited for an answer.

“No other way,” Akira’s calm voice edged on the same hate exuding from Ryuji. “If he loses everything, so be it…”

“Right,” Kyotaro nodded, “I backed down earlier, I won’t back down now.”

“There you have it.” 

“By the way, is gettin’ rid of a Palace hard…?” Ryuji turned around and asked the cat. “You’ve tried it before, right?”

Morgana slightly tilted his head at this, “ ...When did I ever say that?” 

“...Eh?” Ryuji had a delayed reaction to this before yelling out, “WHAT!? Were you just pretendin’ to know!?”

“Is it true that you’re getting expelled?” Ann’s voice caused them to turn their heads to where she stood. She rubbed her arm as she spoke in an emotionless voice, “Everyone’s talking about it…”

“That asshole’s at it again…!” Ryuji growled at this, he looked at the girl with a frown. “So you came all this way to tell us that?”

Ann paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath before looking at the four with a stern expression. Declaring something that caused them to reel back in surprise. “If you’re going to deal with Kamoshida… let me in on it too. I can’t just sit back and do nothing after what happened to Shiho!”

Ryuji shook his head at this, “This has nothing to do with you… Don’t butt your head into this…”

“But it does! Shiho’s my-”

“I said don’t get in our way!” 

Ann stood there in silence for a second. Her eyes could be seen welling up before she ran off.

“Damn…” Kyotaro sighed, “Did you have to be that harsh?”

“Oh shut up, we can’t take her somewhere like that…” Ryuji quietly stated. “It’s best this way.”

“I hope that she doesn’t torment herself over this.” Morgana solemnly shook his head, “When it comes down to it, women don’t hesitate.” 

Ryuji paused for a second before regaining momentum, “We just gotta hurry up and deal with Kamoshida. Let’s go already!”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The four of them were back in the alley where they first entered that pervy castle, they checked every in case someone spotted them doing this. Lord knows what would happen if a person was just passing by while they disappeared in thin air. 

Morgana announced, “The moment we cross over, we’ll treat each other like phantom thieves, so I hope you’re ready.”

“Huh?” Ryuji tilted his head at the name, “Phantom Thieves?”

“Those who covertly sneak in and stylishly steal Treasure—that is what we become!”

Akira rubbed his chin at the prospect, “Not bad. Sounds interesting…”

“Sounds badass, is what it is!” Kyotaro pumped his fist, “All we gotta do is say a few words and then we go down that rabbit hole to take that bastard down!”

“Yeah but…” Ryuji raised his phone with a quizzical raise of his brow. “How the hell’s all this work? Someone make it?”

Akira paused for a moment before responding, “It doesn’t matter. We have it, it’s all that matters.”

“True.” Ryuji nodded his head, “There’s no point in thinkin’ about it now. We’ll show that effin’ Kamoshida!”

“Let’s go!” With that last word from Morgana, the app was activated. Unbeknownst to the four, they brought along someone else into their little quest. 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The three shujin boys were in their, now titled, ‘Phantom Thief’ outfits. They stood in front of the drawbridge of the castle, preparing themselves to steal Kamoshida’s so-called treasure. 

“All right!” Ryuji whooped, “Time to bust through!”

And, almost immediately, the person they inadvertently brought with them revealed themselves with a very reasonable question. 

“What is this?” Ann exclaimed as her cyan blue eyes frantically bounced around the area. 

“T-Takamaki?”

“That voice… Sakamoto!?”

“Oh boy… Here’s trouble.” Kyotaro brought a hand to his face.

“Watanabe...?!” She looked to Akira, who slightly backpedaled in surprise. “And… are you Kurusu-kun!?” 

“Wh-Wh-Why are you here!?” Ryuji raised a shakened finger, completely taken aback by the situation they were faced with. 

“How should I know!?” She calmed down by a tiny increment, her eyes scanning the place in front of her. “What’s going on? Hey, where are we?! Is that the school?!”

In the midst of her confusion, Morgana leaped in a lovesick kick. Even somehow manifesting a pink heart above his head like a cartoon… _Somehow._

“I see. Perhaps she was dragged in because of that app thing. If multiple people can enter with the person who uses it, it stands to reason it’ll pull anyone nearby.” Morgana theorized, his eyes still locked onto Ann. 

“For real…?”

Ann stepped up to the four, “Wait, so THIS is related to Kamoshida!?”

“Sonuvabitch! She knows too much!” Kyotaro exclaimed, “We gotta get her outta her!” \

“No! No way!” Ann shook her head with her fists tightened. 

“The Shadows are going to find us if you make a scene.” Morgana explained with a gentle tone.

But Ann wasn’t so appreciative of this, she was more focused on what she was seeing. “No way! It talked!? Oh my god, it’s a monster cat…!”

“Monster…?” 

“You better explain what’s going on!” Ann jabbed a finger to Ryuji, her face scrunched up in frustration. “I won’t leave until you do! No, I’m not leaving if this IS related to Kamoshida!” 

Ryuji sighed as he turned to Akira and Kyotaro, “Looks like we gotta force her. But… how’re we supposed to do that?”

“Just take her back to where we came in. That’s how it worked last time, right?” Morgana chimed in, getting out his little funk after the ‘monster’ comment.

“Alright,” Kyotaro nodded, “Let’s get this over quick.”

“I feel kinda bad, she deserves to know something.” Akira rubbed the back of his neck and sighed reluctance. 

But Ryuji was the one to point out the reason why they came here, “We can’t deal with Kamoshida if we don’t, so let’s just…” 

“Hey, what are you‒” Ann paused in surprise, seeing the three approach her slowly with their hands raised. 

“We’ll explain after everything’s over!” Ryuji quickly explained before gently pushing her back. 

She reliated, so that meant Kyotaro and Akira had to join in on the little contest of wills. It had gotten to the point where they heaved up Ann into the air. If they weren’t in some bizarro parallel world then this would have been strange for passersbys to witness. 

“Hey! And just where are you touching!?”

“Whoa, sorry, I didn’t mean-- ...That’s not important!”

“Yeah, let’s brush aside you copping a feel…”

“Shuddup Kyo! Takamaki, just‒! We’ll deal with this later!”

“You guys seriously-- Ah!?” The three dropped her off in the exact place where they came from, where Ann was devoured into a distortion of red ripples that appeared from thin air. Once she went through, the ripples vanished as if they were never there.

The three thieves paused in surprise, unable to comprehend this even though they have passed through the same way. Without thought, Kyotaro slowly pressed his fingers against it. The waves of red appeared once again as if he was brushing against water. He stroked his hand against more of the air and began side stepping as he did, revealing that it wasn’t just one spot that they could leave from. Akira and Ryuji joined him in on this evaluation. They pressed down onto the field, noting how it had a bit of resistance. 

“Whenever you enter the cognitive world, a field appears where we can exit from.” Morgana summarized their discoveries with a bit of intrigue in his voice. “And the radius depends on the location we entered from…”

“Man, weird!” Ryuji commented, but he quickly shook off the fascination with the field and got back on task. “But we’d better be more careful when we use that app, don’t wanna have to deal with this again…” 

“You should’ve checked the tools you used!” Morgana scolded with a shake of his head, “Why do I—the one who was just watching—know more about it than you three?!”

“Sh-Shuddup! Geez, Takamaki found out right when we were startin’off… “ Ryuji attempted to save face while Akira and Kyotaro awkwardly nodded along. Ryuji coughed into his fist and shifted their attention to their job at hand. “We gotta deal with this fast! We’ll worry about her later!”

But Morgana was a bit more interested in ‘her’ for a second. “That girl’s name is Ann Takamaki, right? Lady Ann…”

“What… the‒”

“The shadows noticed us.” Morgana quickly became stern, standing with confidence as he addressed the group. “You better prepare yourselves, got it?” He looked to Akira with a smirk. “We’re counting on you, Joker!”

Kyotaro raised a brow, “Uh… Do we need name tags or‒”

“No, you dolt! It’s a code name.” Morgana announced which again raised some brows, “What kind of stupid phantom thief would use their real name!? I’m not down for that! And there’s no telling what kind of effect yelling our real names will have on the Palace. It’s just a precaution.”

“So, why Joker?” Ryuji hiked his thumb to Akira. 

“Because he’s our trump card when it comes to fighting strength.” Morgana raised a paw towards Akira with a glint in his large-cartoon eye. “Just go with it! You’re Joker!”

“Not a bad name,” Akira rubbed his chin with a grin, “Joker… Sounds pretty cool, actually.”

“It ain’t too bad, yeah?” Ryuji pumped a fist at the name.

“Next up is you, Ryuji.” The cat rubbed his chin and pursed his lips as he inspected him. “You’ll be… Let’s see… ‘Thug’.”

“Are you pickin’ a fight with me!? I’ll choose it myself!” Ryuji began pressing his hands against the skull mask on his face, his eyes flickered as he did. “Hm… When it comes to me, it’s gotta be this mask. Honestly, I actually kinda like it. What if we named me after this?”

“Ah…” Kyotaro nodded, “Your code name is Cranium. Got it…” 

Ryuji simply scoffed at his joke, not bothering to acknowledge Kyotaro further. To which Kyotaro bit his tongue back in response. Seeing as Ryuji was still upset for his lack of action back when dealing with Kamoshida, he decided it would be best to just be quiet. =

“How about ‘Skull’ then?” Morgana proposed, ignoring the odd pause between the two of them.

“Ooh! That sounds awesome! I’m Skull!” 

Akira turned to Kyotaro, who was awkwardly kicking the ground. “So, you’re up next.” He said with a small smile, to which Kyotaro mirrored back. 

“Hm… This mask is kinda like the ‘Phantom of the Opera’.” He trailed his fingers down the short streaks at the corners of his mask. “Can’t take Phantom, really… Might muddle with our role as Phantom Thieves… Might seem strange with the ringmaster motif but how about ‘Ghost’?”

“Sounds fine…” Ryuji said with an impassive voice. He turned to Morgana, “What do we do about this one’s code name?”

“I think anyone’s good really.” Akira shrugged, mentally questioning why the not-cat needed a code name. 

Ryuji rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before throwing something out there, “How ‘bout ‘Mona’?”

The smallest of the thieves gave a stern nod, “Well, if it works for the mission, then I’ll go with it. All right. From here on out, we’re Joker, Skull, Ghost, and Mona. We need to be absolutely thorough about using those code names from now on!”

The four Phantom Thieves turned to the castle, letting their shared despise for Kamoshida drive them forward. Kyotaro looked to both Akira and Ryuji, who had a great fire in their eyes as they stepped forward. If only he had the same intense passion as they did.


	12. No More Holding Back

**Day: April 15th: Friday**

**Time: Early Morning**

**Location: Shadow Kamoshida’s Castle**

* * *

The four of them entered through the hole near the castle gate, still uncompromised by the guards there. Once they entered, they made their way near the great hall. The thieves hid in the darkly lit corridor where they saw Shadow Kamoshida in front of his guardsmen, waiting attentively for their ‘great king’ to speak. 

_ “Those intruders the other day were quite entertaining.”  _ He began in a slightly amused tone,  _ “However, I can’t allow that trash to ransack my castle! Strengthen the security! Kill them on sight! I’ll reward whoever brings me their heads.”  _

The shadows cheered in rally at his orders, causing the four intruders to stiffen at the threat before them.

_ “Praise to King Kamoshida!" _

_ "Death to the intruders!" _

Skull groaned at their display, he turned to Mona on his right. “Hey, Mona. Can’t we just beat the shit outta him and call it a day?”

“Look at all those soldiers, idiot! It’d be suicide.” He hissed in annoyance, “And I’m sure you don’t want a repeat of last time. Besides, don’t you want him to confess his sins? There’s no point beating him up. We need to steal his materialized desires… The Treasure.”

“And where would that be, exactly?” Ghost asked as he and Joker looked to the cat from their position. 

Mona put a paw to his chin, “It has to be somewhere in the depths of this castle. Let’s infiltrate further in while he’s out here!”

With that plan established, the four slipped away from the entrance while Kamoshida was still flaunting himself to his men. Sneaking through the halls, they discovered a lone guard wandering around. Skull looked to Joker as he rubbed his nose, “One guard huh? Let’s take him down and keep going, I want to get this bastard as quick as possible.”

“Wait…” Mona halted them from jumping to action, “We need all the materials we can get, so let’s try to get something out of this.”

“What do you mean?” Joker asked the cat, “You want us to rob the shadow? Is that even possible?”

“Shadows are born from people’s hearts, meaning they act like them too.” Mona explained as the four slowly moved in through the corridors. Hiding right behind the guard. “Naturally, shadows aren’t interested in dying so they should be willing to bargain for their lives.”

“Well then…” Joker cracked his knuckles before leaping to action. He jumped onto the knight’s shoulders before pulling at it’s mask. “Time to see what you have for us!”

From the guard, came a fairy that struggled to float. The thieves immediately pulled out their guns, causing the shadow to raise its hands up in surrender. She shrieked, “W-W-Wait! You guys are the intruders that King Kamoshida was talking about?! I… What are you going to do to me?” 

“We’ll let you go, if you can hand over all your money.” Joker demanded with a stern voice as he raised the barrel of his pistol to the fairy. 

“Oh! Right, of course… I… Don’t have anything on me…” The fairy blanched at her lack of funds. 

“Seriously? Hm, this wasn’t how I was planning for it to go…” Mona awkwardly rubbed his head as he lowered his slingshot, “Well, I guess it’s time for you to go to hell.”

“Sheesh, this is dark…” Ghost commented casually as he kept both of his berettas locked onto the helpless fairy on the round. 

“Wait! Don’t kill me, please!” The shadow brought her hands together in pleading, “I’m sure we can work something out!”

“Well, alright. I'll let you go…  _ to hell _ .” Joker smirked, keeping his voice deepened to sound cool. Which caused the shadow to scoff at him, catching Joker off-guard. 

“Ugh… That was really cheesy.” The shadow began to giggle, causing the four thieves to sigh at their lack of intimidation. “But those stupid one-liners are always fun to say, though…”

“They are, aren’t they?” Joker smiled at the same wavelength that he and the shadow were on, causing his fellow thieves to glare at him. 

The fairy slowly floated to him with a smile on her face, “I guess you and I aren’t so different. Hm… Oh, Oh! I just remembered something!” 

“Hm?” 

The shadow began to glow in a blue flame as she hovered close to Joker, “I never just belonged to Kamoshida. I’m an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity’s souls. My real name is Pixie! From now on, I’ll live on inside your heart!” 

The shadow transmuted into a ball of fire that morphed into a blue form of Joker’s mask. The object flew onto Joker’ face, searing itself alongside his original domino vizard. Joker blinked at what had just happened. His teammates gathered around him, astounded at what happened.

“Did… you just eat that shadow?” Ghost asked Joker, who was too speechless to give him a response. 

“Was that supposed to happen?” Skull turned to Mona, who looked about as surprised as them. 

_ “Intruders?! Halt!”  _ A guard appeared from the hallway, catching them off guard. The four leaped out of the knight’s sword swing. The shadow exploded, revealing itself to be two dark horned horses. Snuffling in anger at the sight of the Phantom Thieves. 

“Jeez, these guys keep coming out from the wood works!” Ghost groaned as he called forth his mysterious persona, Skull following as well.

The two astral figures fended off the shadows. Captain Kidd doing quite well as his Zio blasts struck the bicorn’s weak spots. While Ghost could only give boosts to Skull’s strength as his persona had not much to offer in its attacks. 

Joker went to call Arsene, reaching for his mask with a steady pull, however he noticed an energy that differed from the Pillager of Twilight. With a shout, he instinctively called the specific persona’s name. “Pixie!” 

“Woah! When did Arsene look like that?” Ghost asked as his Persona wrestled with a bicorn with its feet. 

“No way…” Mona gaped at such a unique circumstance, “You turned the shadow into a persona?”

“Apparently,” Joker smirked as Pixie floated right in front of him. He brought his thumb and index finger together, his newest persona charging up lightning in her hands as he readied his fingers. “Blast ‘em!” 

With both snaps of his fingers, the pixie shot a spark of Zio at the Bicorns. Captain Kidd and Ghost’s persona quickly floated away to let the sparks finish off the Bicorn shadows. Both thieves called back their personae to rush over to Joker, who was returning Pixie back to his mind. He looked at his teammates with a blanket expression. 

“Uh… weird right?” He attempted to play coy with a sheepish smile on his face. 

“I don’t understand, does that mean you can wield multiple personas?!” Morgan jumped with widened eyes.

“I think so? I still feel Arsene with me, as well as Pixie…” Joker rubbed the side of his head.

“To be able to seal any enemy shadow into your mask and use their power, I’ve never seen someone be able to do something like it!” Mona exclaimed, causing Skull and Ghost to raise a brow at. 

“What do you mean?” Ghost asked, “Is this something that only Joker can do?”

“Maybe? Only one heart exists within one person, so normally one person can have one persona! But this… With this ability, we have a huge advantage in battle!” Mona jumped in excitement before turning to the other two thieves, “Ghost, Skull, it seems that Joker will need assistance in collecting as many allies as he can. So we need you two to give any form of aid you can possibly give him.” 

“Aye, aye.” Ghost saluted with a smile on his face.

Skull pumped his fist in excitement, “Hell yeah! By the time we’re done, we’ll have a whole ass army to take down Kamoshida!” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Unbeknownst to the thieves, Ann Takamaki was able to find her way back into the Castle. After finding a strange app on her phone and uttering the same words as Sakamoto, she was able to be warped back into this distorted version of Shujin. 

“I… What’s going on?” She voiced her thoughts as she looked down to her phone, “How did this app just‒”

_ “Princess!”  _ A distorted voice called out to her. Ann immediately turned her head to it, only to see something weird, large men in armor rushing towards her.  _ “Princess, King Kamoshida is very strict on your leave from the castle. We’ll have to take you to him ourselves.” _

“Wait… Princess?” Ann wasn’t able to get another word in as she was heaved over one of their shoulders. “H-Hey, Wait! You’ve got‒ Ah!”

She began kicking in protest, the knight not even flinched at the boots to the head. “I’m telling you, you’re mistaken! I’m not‒ Woah!”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“So where do we start?” Ghost looked to Mona as he leaned against the wall of the safe room. “This whole Treasure thing, where exactly do we find it?”

“That’s just something we’re going to have to find as we explore Kamoshida’s castle, but it won’t be easy with Kamoshida on high alert.” Mona sighed as he crossed his arms. 

“Speakin’ of that, yeah.” Skull jumped into the conversation, “More of those shadows have been popping up, they’ve been a pain to get through.”

“It must be because you guys had provoked Kamoshida in the real world,” Mona confidently assumed, “Whatever happens to Kamoshida’s cognition over there, affects what happens here.”

“Well, despite that little obstacle, how are we going to get to the treasure?" Joker asked with his hands in his pocket. "I'd like to deal with this as soon as possible considering what's on the line."

"Calm your horses, we'll just have to secure an infiltration route." Mona jumped onto the table that they were centered around. "It'll lead us straight to the Treasure room, but it won't be easy…" 

Mona looked to Ghost with a raised paw, "When we were fighting those shadows, I noticed how your persona struggled against it." 

"Okay, what do you want me to do? Tell him off?" 

"First, I want you to take this seriously!" Mona raised a paw at him, "That persona of yours seems too weak to be able fend for itself. It can't do anything other than support. If you don't shape up, then you'll just be a hindrance for us." 

Ghost gritted his teeth at the cat before letting a sigh escape from him. Joker and Skull watched the two, both unable to comment on it. 

"With the manpower we have now, we won't be able to succeed in our mission." Mona turned to Joker and Skull, Ghost looking at the floor in the background. "If we just get one more person involved then maybe…" 

"Tch… For someone who has amnesia, you sure do have alot to say about the palace and our situation." Skull stepped to stare down the supposed 'honest-to-god' human. “You sure talk big, but what if it turns out you’re just some stray cat in the end?”

Mona became crestfallen at the idea, “That can’t be…” 

"Let's not continue this squabbling," Joker moved forward, uneasy with the bickering between them. "We came here for a reason, to steal Kamoshida's treasure." 

"Yeah, Joker's right…" Ghost whispered as he stood near the door, "I think I hear footsteps…" 

The thieves immediately went silent as they stood near the door. Keeping their ears to it to listen in on any possible leads that the guards might spill.

_ "Still, why would the princess be in such an odd place?"  _

"Princess?" Skull whispered to which Ghost shushed at as the guard's metal boot clicking drew closer.

_ "I could have sworn we were pursuing the readings of a prisoner."  _

_ "Doesn't matter now, we must take her to King Kamoshida."  _

"What 'Princess' are they talking about?" Skull looked to Ghost and Joker, who shrugged in response. 

"Allow me to look into this." Mona zipped past through the door. His teammates looked on with fatigue. 

"And yet another question goes unanswered…" Skull pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Stuff like the castle and that navigation app are mysterious… but Morgana’s got ‘em both beat." 

"Code names, bro." Ghost reminded him. 

"Crap! Sorry! What was I again? Oh yeah, Skull?" 

"Maybe we should have name tags…" Joker rubbed his chin in jest, Skull letting out a frustrated sigh at his mockery. 

Amongst this, Mona rushed back into the room with fear plastered onto his face. His breath was heavy as he announced to the other three thieves, “This is bad! They’ve captured your friend… Lady Ann!”

“Wait, what?” Skull reeled back in surprise at what the cat had told them, “We just sent her home, there’s no way that she could get back in.”

“Unless…” Joker let out a sigh as he brought a hand to his face, “That app must have showed up on her phone when she followed us here.” 

“Damn this stupid world and it’s confusing rules,” Ghost grumbled at their lack of understanding of the metaverse. “We have to hurry up and save her, right?” 

His fellow thieves nodded before slipping out the door. Keeping away from shadows yet they needed to be quick with their rescue. God knows what this distorted version of Kamoshida just might do.

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Ann Takamaki used every bit of strength to try and wrestle out of those freaky guards' hold on her. But no matter much she squirmed, these things never even shifted from her kicks. Ann was locked into shackles that bound each limb. 

She attempted to struggle out of them as she looked to the guards. Standing beside her captured state, almost like mindless statues. 

"What's all this about!?" She seethed at these strange knights, "Seriously, I'm gonna call the cops if you don't let me out!"

_ “So, this is the intruder.” _ A familiar sickening voice rang. Ann raised her head to Kamoshida, clad in a heart patterned cape as he stared her down with golden eyes. 

“Kamoshida?!” Ann asked in disbelief at sight of seeing that bastard in such an odd place as this. Beside him, arrived someone else. A girl with blonde hair that were tied into pigtails and teal blue eyes. She was dressed in a revealing purple bikini and a tiara along with a pair of cat ears rested on her head. 

“Who?‒ What’s going on?!” Ann shouted to her captors, “Why is the school like this?” 

_ “I can’t believe you mistook my Ann for someone like her.” _ Kamoshida went to stroke the look-a-like of Ann’s chin. He turned to her, an evil smile crept onto his face.  _ “Are you afraid?” _

“What the hell is all of this?!” Ann shouted, causing Kamoshida to let out a laugh. “Have you lost your mind?!”   


_ “I do as I please here.” _ Kamoshida proclaimed, drinking in every bit of the display before him.  _ “After all, this is my castle… The world of my desires.” _

“ This isn’t funny! Enough of the bullshit, Kamoshida!” 

The perverted gym teacher let an airy laugh out. He turned to the other Ann, who looked blank-faced yet held mischief in her eyes as she stared at Kamoshida. The teacher smirked,  _ “The girl’s decided to tell me off, what do you think?” _

“Talking back is like… Totally unforgivable…” The other Ann drawled out in a dull tone of voice. 

_ “In that case, she should be executed.” _ With a wave of his hand, Kamoshida called for another one of his guards to step forward. A shadow in gold armor that stood taller than it’s fellow guards.  _ “Now how should I play with you? Shall I tear you into little pieces?”  _

The sounds of the door being forced open caused everyone in the room to turn their heads to it. Out stepped Kurusu, Sakamoto, Watanabe, and that strange cat creature. The four looked around the room in disgust at the sight of the statues. Modeled after highschool girls in gym clothes, each one displayed a seductive pose. 

"Huh? What's over…" Kyotaro turned to see Ann locked up with Shadow Kamoshida overseeing it all. 

"Takamaki?!" Ryuji exclaimed in disbelief as they all shared the same shock of her presence here. 

_ "Just when I was about to start enjoying myself… _ " Kamoshida groaned at their arrival, placing a hand to his head. 

Ann looked over to the three Shujin boys alongside their cat, half-relief and half-confused. She called out to them in a strained voice, “What’s the deal with this guy…!?”

“Never mind that,” Akira jumped in with his blade in hand. He turned to Kamoshida, “Let her go or we’ll be tearing down your castle!”

_ “Hmph, empty threats are meaningless.”  _ The king sneered at the challenger before him, instead he kept his attention to his prisoner. _ “I bet you’re just like those thieves. You came because you’re pissed at me, huh? But, ah… I forget that chick’s name, but it’s your fault she jumped, you know.” _

“What…” Ann’s voice became rigid.

Kamoshida gave a sickly sneer as he gazed over Ann’s captured state.  _ “You were so reluctant to throw yourself onto me that I had her take your place.” _

“You… Bastard!” It was all Ann could get out, her mind was filled with fire as she saw red. 

As she squirmed, the two silver guards raised their swords to her neck. Causing her to stiffen at the threat. The thieves attempted to rush in and save her but they were stopped when Kamoshida raised a hand. His devilish smile caused them to grit their teeth.

_ “Take one step and she’s dead on the spot, just sit back and enjoy the dismantlement show.”  _ Kamoshida’s grin grew as a mischievous thought came to mind. “Maybe I’ll start with her clothes…” 

The thieves reached for their guns, only to stop at the realization of how pointless it was. Nothing they had on them could save Takamaki. They were completely useless here…

They watched as Ann lowered her head in defeat, accepting what was to come for her. “Is this my punishment, for what happened to Shiho? I… Shiho, I’m so sorry...”

Akira had enough of this show. He shouted aloud, “Don’t give into what this bastard is saying!” Takamaki raised her head in shock at his words. “Suzui is your friend, right? You’re only one! Don’t you want revenge?”

“I…” Ann lowered her head, “Shiho’s been my best friend since middle school. No one else would talk to me, but she was different. And I let him toy with me… both of us... ”

_ “Oh, what a sad story… Some friend, you are...” _ Kamoshida groaned. He looked to his guards and ordered,  _ “Get it over with quick‒” _

“...Shut up!” Ann seethed through her teeth. She raised her head, hatred burned through her eyes. “I’ve had enough of this… You’ve pissed me off, you son of a bitch!”

**…**

**_“My… It’s taken far too long."_ ** A voice called out to Ann, causing her head to pierce. She convulsed in response to the searing pain dealt to her head. The shackles binding her began to rattle. 

**_"Tell me… Who's going to avenge her if you don't?"_ ** Sweat poured down Ann’s face as the pain lingered. Tears flowed from her eyes as the voice called out to her again,  **_“Forgiving him was never the option… Such is the scream of the other you that dwells within… I am thou, thou art I… We can finally forge a contract.”_ **

“I hear you… Carmen.” Ann whispered as her head was dropped. She gritted her teeth and raised her head, sparks of blue flame erupted from her face and revealed a mask. On her visage was a red cat man that revealed her eyes, once teal now a sickly gold. “You’re right. No more holding back!”

Ann began forcing her wrists out of the shackles, the voice in her head quietly cheered her on as she did.  _ “ _ **_There you go… Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself. Understand? Then I’ll gladly lend you my strength.”_ **

She reached for her mask, tearing it off in a flesh tearing flick. From this, a pillar of blue flame emerged and absorbed Ann. And from that flame, came forth her Persona. 

Amongst the flames was Ann, clad in a red forming-fitting bodysuit made of leather that exposed her cleavage. With pink arm-length gloves, red knee high boots, and a long cat tail attached to her backside. 

Standing behind her was a tall woman with pink skin. She wore a black and red rose dress and a puma mask along with a cigar in her mouth. In her possession were two short men with hearts for heads. One, she held on with a leash, the other, being used as a stepping stool. 

Ann stared down her opposition; three mindless guards, a toy made in her image, and a filthy bastard that cowered behind his shadows. She rushed over to one of the guards and kicked it’s sword into the air, letting it fly over to Kamoshida and jumped up to catch it. Ann brought it down onto the copy of her, satisfied seeing it dissipate to dust. 

She turned to Kamoshida, who hid behind the gold knight as he sweated buckets. “You know what? I’m not some cheap girl you can toy with… you scumbag.”

_ “Bitch…!” _ Kamoshida attempted to bite back, not leaving any effect on Ann. The four thieves joined beside her to face down the royal coward before them. 

“You stole everything from Shiho… You destroyed her… Now it’s your turn!” She jabbed a finger towards his direction as she seethed with rage. “I will rob you of everything!”

_ “How dare you! Enough of your insolence!” _ The knights began to convulse, melting into puddles of black and red that merged together. From this vortex, emerged a large shadow. A two horned demon that lazily sat upon a toilet gazed down at the thieves, barring it’s sharp teeth. 

Ann faced down the challenge with determination. “No, I’ve had enough of you! No one’s going to stop me now! Let’s go Carmen!” 

The shadow sent multiple streaks of green wind that tore at them. Each thief narrowly avoided being in the center of their small tornado. He spouted out in anger as he readied up another blast for all of them,  _ “How dare you deny King Kamoshida’s love, you selfish lass!? Pay for this insolence with your life!”  _

Before the shadow could strike them all, a blast of fire was sent to it’s head‒ knocking it down. The thieves turned to see Ann without her mask as her persona launched several sparks of flame to the shadow. She faced down the demon with a stern look on her face. 

“That dirtbag just sees women as sexual outlets!” She growled in disgust at the mention of Kamoshida. “Don’t make me laugh with that “love” bullshit!”

_ “Grgh… Insults to the king will grant you a painful death!”  _

He shot out chunks of ice from his mouth, each one darted towards Ann at a rapid speed. She rolled out the way, the first two had missed her but the third hit her in the back. The other thieves went to help her up but they were sent flying due to a Magaru blast. Ann reached for her mask as the demon began to ready another ice blast. 

_ “For your treachery, you now face your demise!”  _

He sent an extremely large blast of ice towards her. Ann braced herself, however she noticed how not a single bit of ice had touched her. Looking up, she saw a strange figure of black wrapped in chains guarding her. The creature shivered in pain as Kyotaro let out a groan. 

“Ghost!” Ryuji rushed over to his friend who fell to the ground in pain, his persona dissipating after the blow. He kept himself on one knee as he shook, his teeth chattering as well. “Ghost, you okay man?”

“N-N-N-Never mind me,” He looked to Ann, raising up a thumb as he gave a weak smile. “J-J-Just… Finish that guy so we can go home…”

Ann blinked in surprise before picking herself up off the ground, “Thanks… I’ll do just that. Carmen! Burn him!” 

With the removal of her mask, her persona shot multiple bursts of fire that knocked the toilet demon back onto the ground. With that, the words came to her mind like second nature.

“All-out Attack!” Ann, Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana jumped into the air and began to strike in a flurry. The demon began to tear apart at their cuts. 

Ann dropped down, giving a short twirl, looking forward and held up the peace sign whilst the guard captain spewed out blood. A background of predominantly pink appeared behind her with icons and logos of the typical girly-girly motif. Cursive text with fluorescent colors that read-out,

* * *

**OMG!! We are SO awesome!**

* * *

“I-I-I-I still don’t get that…” Kyotaro let out a shaky laugh after bearing witness to another one of those all-out attacks. The four rushed over to his side and helped him up. 

"Thanks Watanabe-kun," Ann bobbed her head in gratitude as she helped support his shaky state. 

"I-I-Its… Ghost." 

"Huh?" Ann tilted her head at the name. 

"We'll explain later," Akira told her before scanning the room, "But, where's Kamoshida?" 

"He must have booked it," Ryuji gritted his teeth, "Damn coward…" 

He turned to Ann, who was looking around the room to figure out what was going on. Ryuji yelled, "Why'd you come here, we said we were gonna handle it!" 

"Hey! Is that how you speak to a woman!?" Morgana interjected before turning to Ann with loving eyes. "Are you all right, Lady Ann!?" 

“Lady Ann…? Wait, what is this thing? Is it alive…? How can it talk? And… where in the world are we…!?” 

Morgana faltered at her words, “J-Just calm down. Everything’s going to be OK‒ don’t worry.”

“How am I supposed to be calm?!” She yelled, running breathless after everything that’s transpired. After calming down for a bit, she realized what had happened to her clothes. “H-huh? Why am I dressed like this?! When did I‒ Ugh, what’s up with this?!”

“Alright just calm down,” Akira attempted to sooth Ann, who was currently collapsed onto the floor as she covered up her cleavage. He looked to his teammates, “We have to head out, Ghost is too hurt to keep going and Takamaki is… frazzled at the moment.” 

“ _ P-P-Please _ , I can still‒”

“Kyo, you’re shivering like a madman.” Akira rebutted, causing Kyotaro to let out a shaky sigh. 

Ryuji looked to Ann as he let out a tired groan, “We were just gettin’ fired up, and you had to go and get in the way… Rgh, whatever, let’s just go.”


	13. Preparations For The Operations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey long chapter in bound, so ready thine butts.

**Day: April 15th: Friday**

**Time: Afternoon**

**Location: Aoyama-Itchome**

* * *

Ryuji and Kyotaro stood beside a soda machine at the train station, getting drinks for everyone. The two were in an awkward position, both hesitant about starting up a conversation. After exploring Kamoshida’s castle, it seemed like they were on good terms again but it was too uncertain where they stood.

But Ryuji ultimately caved in, “Hey, I… I want to say sorry about bein’ a dick to you. I honestly shouldn’t have rush into that asshole’s office, and I shouldn’t have gotten angry at you.”

“No, it’s okay…” Kyotaro waved off, “I… was going to apologize to you and Akira for not backing you up back there. Maybe if I was there, then I might have convinced Kamoshida…”

“Nah,” Ryuji shook it off after getting two bottles out from the vending machine, “That bastard had us on his shit list, he would have gotten us expelled sooner if he could.”

"Still…" Kyotaro couldn't continue to speak any further. It was like breathing underwater, trying to force himself to speak about such an uncomfortable topic. “...Are we good?”

“Of course, man.” Ryuji clapped his shoulder with a wide smile, “Phantom Thieves stick together, right?” 

The two walked over to Akira and Ann, who waited for them by a payphone. Kyotaro clicked the cap off of his drink and began to down it. 

“Which one do you want?” Ryuji turned to Ann as he held up two bottles of soda. 

“Whichever’s not carbonated.”

Ryuj looked down at the bottles in his hands, “Uh, they’re both actually…”

Ann sighed as she took the cola soda, Akira taking the leftover melon soda from Ryuji. As they held onto the bottles, Morgana popped his head out from Akira’s bag. Looking between them with a tinge of indignation. 

“Hey, what about me?” He asked Ryuji.

“Huh? But you’re a cat.” The faux-blonde brought up.

“And before you go on and say something, you’re a cat _right now_.” Kyotaro interjected, “And soda might not mesh well with your diet.”

Amidst this, Ann began giggling at the absurdity of the situation and her experience with these four in general. 

Morgana looked over to Ann over Akira’s shoulder, “Have you calmed down, Lady Ann?” 

Ann blinked at the sight of the talking cat, “Um… Morgana, right? I really am talking to a cat… This feels so strange… Oh, sorry! You’re not a cat, right?” 

“It’s only natural that you’re confused. Demanding that you understand all of this right after what you went through is asking too much.” Morgana nodded his head in understanding.

“Friggin little…” Ryuji grumbled at Morgana’s attitude towards Takamaki. When they get confused, they get nothing but name calling‒ but apparently, it’s a whole ‘nother story with her!

“Honestly, I still can’t believe what happened…” Ann brushed aside one of her pigtails, “And that power… my Persona…”

“It’s the will of your rebellion, Lady Ann.” Morgana explained like before, “With it, you’ll be able to fight in that other world.”

Ann bit her lip in thought, “So if what you told me is true, we can make Kamoshida have a change of heart, right? Is it really possible…? Can we actually force him to confess his crimes?” 

“Everyone is keeping quiet about him,” Kyotaro sighed, “Students, teachers, parents. And if we report him to the police, they won’t even lift a finger. So we have to be the ones to bring him in.”

“Then let me help too." Ann gave a determined nod of her head, "I want to make him pay for what happened to Shiho. He just keeps going like nothing happened, even after what he did to her… I’ll never forgive him.”

Ryuji was taken aback by this, "Wait, did you just say, 'let me help'? You mean, you want us to take you along?" 

Ann’s lips tightened into a frown as she faced Ryuji, “Don’t act like I’m going to drag you down. Weren’t you watching? I can fight too.” 

“Well, we do need all the help we can get…” Kyotaro shrugged as he turned to Akira, “What do you think, dude?”

Akira took a lock of his hair and began to twirl it in thought, “It will be dangerous, but that power she showed back at the castle…” He looked to Takamaki with a light smile on his face, “Alright, welcome to the Phantom Thieves, Takamaki-san.”

“Thanks,” Ann mirrored smile back at Akira, “But I’d prefer you guys just call me ‘Ann’, if we are going to take down that pervy bastard then there’s no point in formalities. Even if you did say no, then I’d just go in alone.”

Ryuji let out an exasperated sigh, “Alright, fine… I’d guess would be dangerous than turnin’ her down. _What with that stupid app…_ ”

“Then it’s decided. Well, I hope we get along!” She gave a warm smile towards her new teammates, Ann’s expression steeled as she announced to her fellow thieves. “I’m going to make Kamoshida atone for what he did. Not just for Shiho’s sake, but for everything he’s done. I won’t let any more people suffer because of him. I’ll do whatever it takes!”

Akira smiled, feeling Ann’s fighting resolve run through him. Noticing a bond beginning to form between them.

* * *

**I am thou, Thou art I**

**Thou hast established a new vow**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion**

**That breaketh thy chains of captivity**

**With the birth of the Lovers Persona,**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and a new power**

* * *

_Lovers… Ann is another confidant, huh?_

“Just let me know when you’re heading back in.” Ann’s voice brought him back to reality. “Oh wait! We don’t have each other’s info.”

She pulled out her phone and opened up her contacts app, “ Hey, give me your number and chat ID. And, um…”

Ann looked between the three Shujin boys, “I’ll be counting on you, then.” She lowered herself to meet her eyes with the cat inside Akira’s bag, “Same goes for you, Morgana.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Lady Ann.” Morgana dipped his head into a bow as he saw Ann walk off after they all shared their contract info. 

He waved his paw in goodbye, a love struck smirk written across his feline face. "What a kind girl… Such admirable consideration for others…" 

"Oh boy…" Kyotaro facepalmed as they braced himself for more of Morgana's swooning. 

"And the innocence to cast herself into the jaws of death to achieve her goal…" The cat trilled at the thought of Ann. "She cares about her friends, and she’s beautiful to boot… What a girl! She’s captured my heart…"

The three Shujin Students looked at Morgana in exasperation, uncomfortable with how much the cat had been infatuated with Ann. But they decided against spending much energy into getting into that topic. Especially with Akira and Ryuji's expulsion on the horizon. 

A sudden idea popped into Ryuji’s head, “You know, it’d be better if this group could get together quick from now on.”

“True.” Morgana nodded his head in agreement, “Our best option would be to make a secret hideout where we could discuss these things.” 

“Like a base, huh?” Kyotaro rubbed his chin at the thought. “Hm… What about the rooftop at Shujin? No one goes there and best of all, it’s free.” 

“Seems like a perfect hideout for the time being,” Morgana smirked from Akira’s bag, “As for my situation, I won’t be able to contact you from inside a Palace, so I’ll stay in this world. That being said, I’ll need someone to take care of me.”

“Uh, Ryuji? Kyotaro?” Akira looked to his teammates with a weak smile. 

“Sorry dude, my mom can’t afford to take anyone else in.” Ryuji waved him off.

“And I don’t want to, so you’re stuck with him.” Kyotaro shrugged with a shit-eating grin, contrasting Akira’s frown. 

“You should feel honored.” Morgana perched onto his shoulder.

“Sure don’t feel honored…” 

The sounds of an announcer began to call for the passengers to board. Ryuji turned to the two of them and said, “Well, we now have our hideout, so let’s meet there tomorrow!” before taking off. 

Akira turned to Kyotaro and they began walking for the train to Yongen-Jaya. He looked to Morgana as he rode in his bag, “I don’t think Sakura-san is going to like seeing me with Morgana, he doesn’t even like me…”

“Hm, seemed like a nice guy when I visited his place with my aunt as a kid.” Kyotaro rubbed his chin, “Guy makes damn fine curry… Hey, mind if I come along? My aunt’s pretty lenient about curfew, so long as I’m with someone. And… I don’t think she’s making dinner today after what happened last night.” 

“Uh, sure.” Akira rubbed the back of his head as the two of them boarded the Ginza Line back home. “Wait… what happened last night?"

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The two entered Cafe LeBlanc, tired from the events of today. Once they stepped in, they saw Sakura-san tending to the counter. Inside the restaurant were two patrons, a woman with short blue hair who was dressed in a punk-style of attire. The other…

“Aunt Ayaka?” Kyotaro's eyes widened in surprise as he saw his aunt sitting at the counter, a coffee cup in hand as she chatted with Sakura-san. “What… What are you doing here?”

“I came here for the atmosphere,” She laughed before taking another sip, “When you texted me you were heading here with a friend, I wanted to meet him. And I was in the mood for some of Sakura-san’s A1 coffee as well.” 

"Thanks," Sakura-san smiled at the compliment before turning to the two teens. "So, you've been hanging out with Kyotaro Watanabe… Strange coincidence, huh Ayaka?" 

"No kidding…" He turned to look at Akira, examining his facial features. "This is the kid you're looking after? Doesn't seem like the type…" 

"Well his record says otherwise," Sakura-san sighed before looking over to the two of them, "But I appreciate you hanging around him, Kyotaro-kun. I’m glad that he has a good influence.”

“That’s what you think,” Kyotaro and Ayaka simultaneously said, not bothering to acknowledge it as Kyotaro took a seat and ordered curry for himself.

“Hey, are we there yet?” Morgana’s voice called out to the two of them from Akira’s bag. The two teens blanched at the eyes they got from their guardians. 

“...Man, did anyone hear something?” Kyotaro gave a shaky laugh as Akira repeatedly nudged him in the shoulder. 

Amidst this, the customer at the tables walked up to Sakura-san. “Thanks for the coffee, I’ll see you later. And it was nice meeting you as well, Watanabe-san…”

“Same here, Takemi-san.” Ayaka gave a light smile to the doctor as she headed off. 

“Come back again.” Sakura-san said as he handed Kyotaro his food, to which the boy immediately began to dig into.

“So… Who was that just now?” Akira asked the cafe-owner, who shrugged in response. 

“Tae Takemi, the head doctor over at that clinic down the street. Rumor has it she gives pretty crappy examinations, and sells some weird homemade medicines on top of that. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. I haven’t been there myself.”

Ayaka decided to add her two cents into the mix, “I don’t want to buy rumors like that, it must be annoying for Takemi-san to deal with.” Sakura-san nodded in agreement.

“Well, I gotta go soon.” Sakura-san looked to Akira, “When these two are done here, close up for me will you?”

“Yes, sir.” Akira said before heading up stairs. Leaving Sakura-san with his two customers.

“How’d you end up taking care of some kid from Nikko?” Ayaka asked, causing Sakura-san to let out a sigh. 

“I owed his Dad a favor,” He explained, “He was an old buddy of mine, he helped me set this place up. But it seems like after what the kid did, his folks barely want anything to do with him. They’ve barely checked in with him. Not a single phone call so far.”

Overhearing this, Kyotaro couldn’t help but feel bad for Akira. To have parents and have them abandon you at the drop of the hat, it seemed so painful…

 _“ What the…!? What is this place!? Is this some kind of abandoned house…!?”_ The muffled sounds of Morgana’s complaining caused them to all freeze in surprise. Kyotaro assumed that the two of them could only hear meowing but that didn’t really help their case here. 

“Excuse me for a moment,” Was all Sakura-san said before heading up stairs.

“.... You two smuggled a cat here didn’t you?” Ayaka asked her nephew.

“Yep.”

“Cool.”

Kyotaro expected to see Sakura-san holding up a frightened Morgana and throw him out the door before scolding Akira. Instead, he saw Sakura come back down and move to the counter with a blank look on his face. The owner took Kyotaro’s empty plate and took it to the back before heading out with another one. On it was a pile of diced chicken that he took upstairs.

“What a big softie…” Ayaka laughed as she finished up her cup of coffee. She stood up from her seat and turned to her nephew, “Come on, kiddo. Let’s head out.”

The two walked out of Cafe LeBlanc, Kyotaro gazing up at the building in curiosity at how Akira was living here. Ayaka walked in front of her nephew and began to speak, “Seems like a nice kid.”

“Hm? But… You know about the whole…”

Ayaka laughed, “I may not be a cop but I’ve worked in this police industry long enough to know a lot about people, how they are somethings that you can’t take at face value. Besides, I know you aren’t the type of kid to hang around bad people. I raised you better than that.”

“You seem… quite confident in that, Ayaka.” Kyotaro raised a brow at his aunt’s assurance. 

“Yeah, because I know I’m right.” She laughed, causing Kyotaro to shrug. 

In a way, she was… But still.

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Akira stood beside his bed as he watched Morgana devour the plate that Sakura-san had given him. The old man seemed to be quite generous when it came to the matters of bringing in‒ what looked like‒ a stray cat. Perhaps Sakura-san was beginning to warm up to him, or… he just really liked cats. Either way, Morgana was a member of his humble abode. 

“Let me make myself clear,” Morgana began after finishing up his food. “Our living situation won’t be one sided. I have plenty of knowledge concerning infiltration methods that will help you in our mission to steal Kamoshida’s heart.”

“So instead of a teacher's pet, I get a pet who is a teacher.” Akira gave a quiet laugh as Morgana frowned at the title of ‘pet. “Alright, what would these ‘infiltration methods’ be?”

“Whoa, I can’t tell you more unless we settle a deal.” Morgana explained as he licked the plate clean, “So how about it? I get free rent while you hone your craft as a thief?”

Akira twirled a lock of his hair and shrugged, “Sure, guess I kinda have to… Especially with Sakura-san already taking a liking to you.” 

“Hehehe…” Morgana laughed as he grinned like a cheshire cat. “Then it’s a deal.”

Akira couldn’t help but smile as well. Despite the overall smug attitude from Morgana, he couldn’t help but notice a bond forming between the two of them.

* * *

**I am thou, Thou art I**

**Thou hast established a new vow**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion**

**That breaketh thy chains of captivity**

**With the birth of the Magician Persona,**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and a new power**

* * *

_Hm… Well, there you have it._

“I’ll start with the basics, so it won’t be too hard on you okay?” Morgana explained with a wide yawn. “Mmm… It’s getting late, I’m gonna sleep… If you have the energy, why don’t you clean up your room or something.”

The cat laid himself onto Akira’s bedsheet, curling into a ball as it let out peaceful trills. As cute as it was, it was going to be a pain to get into bed. But as he began to look around his cluttered room, his phone began to ring as it let out a text chime. 

**[Ann T.] Thanks for everything today.**

**[Ann T.] You guys saved me, and I didn’t even thank you properly.**

**[Akira K.] I didn’t do much, you should thank Kyotaro and Ryuji.**

**[Ann T.] I already did, but you did help me as well.**

**[Ann T.] You help me stop feeling sorry for myself and stand up to Kamoshida.**

**[Ann T.] I don’t think I would have made it out of there if it wasn’t for you.**

Akira paused and scratched his cheek. What he said was off the cusp, he wasn’t really thinking straight when he did say it but he was glad he was able to help her. Even if it was a simple speech he came up with. 

**[Akira K.] You’re welcome then.**

**[Ann T.] I’m going to give it my all next time, see you tomorrow.** ****

Akira slipped his phone back into his pocket and let out a yawn. It was getting pretty late, so may as well head off to bed. Just needed to figure out how to get _into_ bed with Morgana on top of his blanket.

* * *

**Day: April 16th: Saturday**

**Time: Afternoon**

**Location: Shujin Academy**

* * *

**[Ryuji S.] Hey, we’re meeting up at the hideout after school, right?**

**[Ann T.] Don’t text now. We’re in class.**

**[Kyo W.] You guys have Ushimaru, right? You’re gonna want to be careful.**

**[Akira K.] Why?**

**[Kyo W.] Hopefully, you won’t find out.**

**[Ann T.] Forget that right now. Where is this ‘hideout’?**

**[Ryuji S.] The school roof.**

**[Ann T.] Wait, we can still go up there?**

**[Ryuji S.] Yeah, me and Kyotaro will let you in.**

**[Kyo. W.] Just head straight up when school’s over, and we’ll discuss what to do about Kamoshida.**

**[Akira K.] Gotcha.**

**[Ryuji S.] I’m gonna fine you if you’re late!**

As Akira began to lower his phone, he felt a murderous intent directed towards him. 

“You!” Mr. Ushimaru shouted, “Pay attention! Is that how you listen when someone’s talking to you!?”

Akira leaned back in his chair as he saw the fire burning in Mr. Ushimaru’s eyes. It was enough to make the most willful sweat buckets. 

“Hey Kurusu!”

“Y-Yes?‒”

Akira didn’t even have the chance to blink as Ushimaru sent a piece of chalk jetting towards him. It struck against his forehead, nearly knocking him out of his seak and left a bruise. The class cringed at the smack it made when it hit him.

“That’s what you get for daydreaming! Kids these days have no respect for their elders.” Ushimaru grumbled as Akira was seeing stars. 

“Good grief…” Morgana softly murmured in his desk, “You’re gonna need a lot more skill to dodge that next time.”

“N-Next time...?” Akira mumbled as he rubbed his bruise. 

Ann turned to him and whispered, “You okay, Akira?”

Akira shook off his headache, grumbling to himself. “I’m gonna kill Kyotaro…”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Kyotaro and Ryuji were seated at a table near a small farm on the rooftop. They turned their heads to the sounds of the doors opening. Seeing their fellow thieves walk up to them with blank faces.

“Hey, you’re here…” Kyotaro lingered on that last word seeing Akira stare daggers into him. On the right side of his forehead was a small bruise with a faint layer of chalk dust on it. “So… I’m guessing he got you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, thanks for the warning by the way.” Akira grumbled as he took a seat. “I don’t think I’m ever looking away from the board from now on.”

“Alright, let’s forget all about that.” Ryuji waved off as he announced to the five of them, “And let’s get goin’!” 

Morgana peeked his head out from Akira’s bag, “Hold on, it’s still too early to head into a Palace like that.”

“But why?” Ryuji asked as Morgana stepped onto the table, “Don’t we just gotta steal that Treasure thing?”

“Don’t underestimate the dangers of that place.” Morgana shook his head, “We need to prepare.”

“Ain’t that Persona shit we got enough to deal with it?”

“That’s exactly what I mean when I say don’t underestimate it.” Morgana spoke clearly as he faced the four students, “Remember, Personas take plenty of energy to summon. And if we make a single mistake, we’re all dead.”

The two blonde gulped at the finality of that sentence. Morgana continued as he paced on the table, “Our best bet is to prepare our inventory for a heist.”

“But where do we get that?” Ann asked. 

“Wait, you guys talkin’ about' like weapons? Because I know a kick-ass place in Shibuya!” Ryuji announced with an energetic smile.

“In that case, you can handle that side of things.” Morgana furrowed his brows in thought, “What we also need is medicine. Fatigue is unavoidable in a Palace.” 

Ann played with one of her ponytails as she asked the cat, “So, are we gonna head to a drug store for it?”

“Actually, me and Akira have a place that will give us just what we need.” Morgana smirked.

“We do?” Akira asked the cat.

“Just come with me,” Morgana hopped into Akira’s bag. The cat poked its head out and looked at the other three thieves, “You three can go head home already. Tomorrow, we'll check out that shop that Ryuji was talking about." 

"Tomorrow?" Ann asked, "Do you guys mind if we head later in the day? I'd like to go visit Shiho in the hospital." 

"Of course," Akira nodded, "Whatever works for you, Ann." The other three thieves shared similar sentiments, causing Ann to smile at their understanding. 

"Well, it's settled then." Ryuji pumped his fist in excitement. "Our battle plan is set." 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

After heading back home, Kyotaro was busy helping his Aunt clean out the basement. Stuff like stray lint or boxes of used clothes filled up the place. But as Kyotaro was digging through it all, he found an odd box of items in the corner hidden behind other ones.

He opened it up to find numerous firecrackers, the ones that he and Ayaka were never able to find for the Summer Festival. He thought for a moment, he could tell his aunt about it or… they could come handy in Phantom Thieving. 

Immediately, Kyotaro began shoveling the firecracking into his school bag.

"Kyo! When you're done stacking them, just throw out the ones we don't need!" She called up from upstairs, tending to the dishes. 

"Sure thing, Ayaka!" He said with a devilish grin on his face. 

After doing his chores, Kyotaro snuck his bag into his room. He emptied out the contents of his schoolbag into a spare box he had in his closet. Now he just needed to get an exact idea of what to do with these things in the castle. 

Perhaps a means of attack? No, they already had Personas. How about stealth? A good distraction would be helpful, maybe even daze the enemy. 

With that train of thought, Kyotaro began to work. Back in Nikko, he remembered how his uncle and him used to go out near the mountains and lit these things during holidays. And there was one way to basically turn them into smoke bombs. 

The repetitive process was kinda boring but whatever helped the team. He needed to make himself useful since it was clear he couldn't contribute much in a fight. 

Everyone else seemed so powerful, the least he could do was spend a bit of time on this little project. That… may or may not work. 

He shook those thoughts aside and continued, setting his mind on making these smoke bombs.

* * *

**Day: April 17th: Sunday**

**Time: Afternoon**

**Location: Shibuya**

* * *

“This is it,” Ryuji announced as they stood in front of an airsoft shop named ‘Untouchable’. “This was where I got those guns we used at Kamoshida’s castle. Ann, you might need one as well.”

“Oh, yeah…” Ann put a finger to her chin in thought. “Hm, I don’t know much when it comes to military stuff.”

“We’ll figure it out once we’re inside.” Akira assured as he stepped into the shop. 

Upon entering, the five thieves saw the middle-aged shopkeeper laying his feet onto the desk as he read a magazine. He looked quite unapproachable; dark clothing, gray hair with sideburns and a bit of stubble on his face, a gray cap on his head along with yellow ear defenders around it. The five stared at him blankly as he kept on reading.

“What do you want…?” He spoke in a gruff voice as he kept a lollipop in his mouth.

Akira cleared his throat before speaking up, “We’re looking to buy some airsofts. Do you have any recommendations?”

“...I dunno, just buy whatever looks interestin’ to you.” He shrugged, not bothering to look up at them hovering over his counter. 

Ryuji groaned at his attitude, “Ugh, some customer service…”

With that, they were able to get him to look at them. “Fine, whaddya want? An automatic? A revolver?”

“Uh, automatic…?” Ryuji scratched his head at that, “Dude, why’re you talkin’ about cars now!?”

“No, I think he might be talking about guns… Right?” Ann attempted to piece together, causing the shopkeeper to sigh. 

“Listen, this here’s an enthusiast shop. My regulars’ll be mad if I let casuals like you two hang around.”

Ryuji hiked a thumb at himself in response to that, “I’m not a freakin’ casual! I bought shit from here like, last week!”

The man rubbed his stubbly chin at that, “Huh, can’t remember you.”

“You bastard…”

The shopkeeper looked to Akira and Kyotaro, “Well, what about you two? What do you want.”

Kyotaro rubbed his temple at how to phrase an answer without sounding‒

“Something realistic…”

Utterly suspicious…

“Oh? You guys plannin’ a nice big bank heist or something?” He raised a brow at Akira’s answer.

Ann immediately stepped in to attempt to diffuse the situation, “No, no, no! We just… like how they look. Sure do…”

The shopkeeper hummed in acceptance, “Well whatever you do with them, not my business. Just don’t go ‘round pointing ‘em at other people. Keep ‘em in a bag or somethin’ if you’re outside. Oh, and don’t let the fuzz catch wind of you having ‘em. I don’t need them comin’ around here.”

Akira shrugged, “Don’t worry about that, we hate the cops.”

“How ‘bout that? Me too.” The man smiled at the same synergy they had. “Now, if you look close, you’ll be able to tell these’re models. Real guns feel… different. Maybe someday I’ll show you the real good stuff though… But for now, you get the beginner’s selection. I also got some other stuff if you’re interested.”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“We got a nice haul here…” Kyotaro smirked as he held onto the duffle bag of weapons, armor, and new guns they were able to get. With a bit of money they pooled together along with some yen they found in Kamoshida’s castle, they were able to get some nice items. 

He and Akira broke off Ryuji and Ann after riding the train back to Yongen-Jaya. After buying their equipment, it was decided that Kyotaro would be the one to bring them to school. As he had a knack for smuggling strange items during the day. The two thieves walked side-by-side, readying themselves for tomorrow. 

“With these, we shouldn’t have any problem with infiltrating the castle.” Akira said confidently, pressing up his glasses by the bridge. 

As the two walked, Kyotaro hesitantly brought something up. “We’re on a deadline, right? If we don’t change Kamoshida’s heart soon, then you and Ryuji will be expelled. And since you’re on probation…”

Akira shook his head, “Honestly? I’m not even worried. I guess I have that much trust in you guys. Trust that we’ll be able to bring that perverted bastard to justice.” 

“Well, you’re gonna feel stupid if we do fail…” Kyotaro let out a weak sigh. 

“No,” Akira let out an airy chuckle. “I don’t think that will happen. Call it overconfidence, but I can see us succeeding in our goal.” 

Despite Kyotaro’s words telling otherwise, he was appreciative of Akira’s outlook. And his trust in their team, despite how they only met just a few days ago. He could see something forming between them.

* * *

**I am Thou, Thou Art I...**

**Thou hast opened thine heart to a fellow outcast seeking to free thy selves from captivity**

**Let thy comrade’s mask be a wellspring of strength and guidance**

**And thou shall serve as a guardian for thine comrades in return**

**With the advent of the Fool Arcana,**

**I have obtained a new power that will breaketh thy chains and will lead to tranquility**

* * *

“Kyotaro?” Akira’s voice brought him back to reality, “You okay? You were just staring off into space…”

“Huh? O-oh, yeah… I’m fine.”


	14. Treasure Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey, this is a new approach with palace exploration because I think writing about going through the palace puzzles is boring. So if you wanted to see a shit ton of fight scenes, then I’m sorry to disappoint but I’m also not…
> 
> Anyways, let go...

_ Welcome again, Wanderer… _

Hello again, creepy voice in my head.

_ I see that you've established your first true bond. The Fool Arcana, similar to your own but has the unlimited potential. This will be quite useful in your journey.  _

About that… what was that yesterday? I was just talking to my friends and that… happened. 

_ That is the result of your special ability known as 'The Doppelganger'. A skill similar to your companion's, known as 'The Wildcard'.  _

Wildcard? Do you mean Akira? Does that mean I can summon more than one Persona like him? 

_ Not quite. But first, you must find your Persona's true name before being able to access the power of the Doppelganger.  _

I… don't know how to do that though. That bastard won't tell me.

_ That is something you must find out for yourself. But I'll leave you with this, you will need to rely on your fellow rebels to hone your power. May we meet soon… _

* * *

**Day: April 18th: Monday**

**Time: Early Morning**

**Location: Shujin Academy**

* * *

Akira Kurusu walked by himself to school, Morgana hiding in his bag of course. According to Kyotaro, it would be best to make sure they wouldn’t be seen together until the mission was complete. He also claimed he had something else to bring into the duffle bag alongside their equipment, though he wanted to keep that a surprise. 

As Akira approached the school entrance, he noticed a familiar mop-head greeting students. A large grin plastered onto his face as he did.

“Good morning. C’mon, hurry and get to class!” He said with enough saccharin in his voice that would make one sick.

He turned to see Akira watching his display, his face dropping into a mild expression. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Akira responded with a smirk before walking up the steps.

As he walked up, Kamoshida whispered to him. “That admirable behavior won’t do you any good once you’re expelled…”

In his stride, Akira found it difficult not to let out a smile. He murmured to himself, “And that front you put on, won’t save you from us…” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

Kyotaro lazily tapped his desk at a soft volume whilst they waited for school to be over. All his mind has been stuck on was knocking Kamoshida off his throne. And it seemed like it was the same story for Ryuji, as he noticed him send out a group text.

**[Ryuji S.] So I saw Kamoshida at the school gate this morning.**

**[Ryuji S.] He was just standing there looking at me with this shit-eating grin on his face.**

**[Akira K.] Ditto, I was even brought in for a talk about ‘The Dangers of a Lack of Supervision’ because of him.**

**[Ann T.] Urgh, that’s so annoying. He must be trying to get under your guys’ skin.**

**[Ryuji S.] Honestly, it’s gettin’ me even more fired up about this.**

**[Kyo W.] Good, we’re gonna need that energy.**

**[Kyo W.] Speaking of ‘need’, I slipped the duffle bag in my usual spot. As soon as we’re released, I’ll get it as fast as I can so we can deal with him as quickly as possibly.**

**[Ann T.] Yeah. I want to see that bastard pay for what he did to Shiho.**

**[Akira K.] Alright, head straight to the rooftop. That’s where we strike.**

**[Ann T.] Let’s do our best!**

Kyotaro slipped the phone back into his pocket, letting out a faint smile as he looked down to his desk.

“Hey Watanabe!”

Uh oh… Bad idea to text during Ushimaru’s class.

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

After meeting up on the rooftop, the five thieves gathered their inventory and went on into Kamoshida's castle. Though not without a few jabs at Kyotaro after seeing him hobble upstairs with a large mark on the center of his forehead.

“Pretty sure yours is bigger than mine was...” Joker laughed as he saw Ghost still rubbing his forehead. Their fellow thieves also snickered when they saw the bruise. 

“Can we not talk about this anymore?” He sighed before turning to… Ann. “So, what’s her codename going to be?”

Ann tilted her head at that, “Codename?"

"Yeah, I'm Skull, he's Joker, there's Ghost, and that's Mona." 

"It helps if you base your name off of your costume," Ghost shrugged. 

Skull rubbed his chin in thought, "With that tail and outfit, I was thinking…. Sexy Cat!~" 

"Uh, no way in hell." Ann sighed before furrowing her brows in thought, "Oh! What about Panther? That sounds cool, right?" 

"Why a panther, in particular?" Ghost questioned. 

"Because… it sounds the most ferocious?" Ann figured with a weak smile. 

"Well, that's good enough for me." Joker nodded before he turned to the castle with a sly smirk on his face. "Let's storm this castle!"

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The five moved through the castle. Sneaking past shadows and getting some spare treasure on the way. The goal was to find the route to the manifestation of Kamoshida's desires but it seemed like they were getting nowhere. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

The castle seemed way too disjointed, the room didn't have a clear path. It was impossible to tell if they made any progress whatsoever. 

"Man, we're doomed…" Skull groaned as after moving through ten rooms that looked the same. "Ugh… Where is this damn thing?!" 

"Yeah…" Panther sighed as she stretched out her legs, "It feels like we've gotten nowhere." 

"The castle's distortions seem to be muddling with the path," Mona figured as he gazed around the room. "If we were able to understand Kamoshida's cognition, understand where his palace sprouted from then maybe we might be able to find the treasure." 

The five stopped when they came to a large room. Guards roamed around as they guarded a door covered in ivy at the far side. Mona leapt in excitement at the sight of it. 

He whispered to the four of them. “Right behind there is something that just might help us. I can sense it...”

“And… You know that how?” Skull shrugged, “Whatever… We haven’t made any progress since we got here. Whatever helps, helps…”

Joker rubbed his chin as he saw the many guards that circled the place. “It’ll be difficult to get through with these shadows.”

“What about that?” Ghost pointed up to a titan of a chandelier that hung the room. “If we send that thing down on all of them, we could possibly take them out no problem.”

Panther smiled, “Sounds like a plan! But… How are we gonna knock it down? I don’t think our guns will be able to cut through metal as thick as that.”

“Actually, I have something that might.” Ghost pulled out a large bundle of explosives. “I was making smoke bombs a few days ago, and I came out with this thing. It seems entering this world also brought a bit of punch to it. Before, It looked more like a bundle of duct-tape and firecrackers.”

“As awesome, and kinda scary, that is…” Joker looked up to how high the chandelier actually was, “How are going to get  _ this _ to  _ there? _ ”

Mona snickered as he turned to Joker, “I actually have just the thing for that…”

The cat took his wrist and slipped on a bang around it. The sounds of clicking came from it once it connected to Joker’s glove. He turned to Mona, “What did you just strap onto me? Now my left hand just feels heavier than my right…”

“Just something I was working on during my stay at LeBlanc,” Mona’s lips gave a proud curl upwards, “What would a Phantom Thief be without a grappling hook to help him maneuver through a Palace? I was only able to make the one though…”

“Welp, guess you’re lighting the fuse.” Ghost said as he handed Joker the bomb, “Just strap the thing onto it and snap the red wire, make sure you’re a good distance away…”

“Gee, what a great gift…” Joker deadpanned as he pointed his hand to the roof. But before he did anything, he realized something. “How are we going to get them all? Don’t they need to be under it?”

Mona stepped up at that, “Guess that’s our job, we’ll reign them in for Joker. And when we give the cue, you send it. Alright, guys?”

The four thieves nodded at that. Getting into position, Joker readied his arm and pointed it to the chandelier’s chain. Ghost handed out smoke bombs for everyone to use, though he insisted on keeping the majority. And once Joker zipped upwards, they leaped into action. 

Skull, Panther, and Mona used their personas to push back the shadows into the center of the room where the chandelier hung. After that, Ghost was the first to toss out bombs to the shadows‒ causing them to be dazed to the continuous beat down of small explosions sent their way. 

“Hey, captain!” Ghost called out, “Send it!”

After the sound of wire zipping, came a large explosion that destroyed the chain holding up the large pendant of the room. It crashed down onto the shadows, crushing most of them‒ some left weakened by the attack. And with enemies knocked down, it meant one thing…

“Looks like it’s time for an All out-attack!” Mona called out. Ghost, Skull, Panther, and him leapt into the air. The four turned into a blitz that continuously rained down strike to the dazed shadows. 

Mona landed onto a swivel chair that faced the silhouettes of their enemies. He turned around with a cigar in hand as a backdrop formed. Film tape of his image as scrolled by underneath a large cat stamp that readout, 

* * *

**MISSION ACCOMPLISHED**

* * *

“Hey, I thought I was in charge of saying when to use that.” Joker smiled as he walked over to the four of them.

“Sorry, but I wanted to see how mine looked.” Mona rubbed his chin, impressed by what he did. “All-in-all, very satisfied…”

Skull laughed as he wrapped an arm around Ghost, “Too bad this guy hasn’t seen his yet!”

“Whatever,” He pushed aside his arm in a huff, “I’ll have my chance in the spotlight, just you wait!”

The newest of the thieves spoke up, “Uh guys, the thing behind the door?”

“Oh, right…” Mona bowed in head in slight embarrassment before a love bug hit him once more. “You’re so attentive, Lady Ann… We wouldn’t get this far if it wasn’t for you.”

Amidst that whole scene, Joker walked through the busted in door‒ thanks to the aftermath of that crash ‒a gazed over an odd seed shaped like a skull. The strange pod gave odd whispers as he loomed over it, the voice of Kamoshida. It let out lustful moans, causing Joker to cringe. Once he picked it up from its podium, he thankfully got it to stop. 

“Hey,” Joker called out to his team, shaking the pod in his hand. “Mind telling what this is?”

Mona nodded, “What you are holding is a Will Seed. The coalesced desires that helped sprouted Kamoshida’s palace.”

With that, the thieves began to notice how the room around them began to change. As if on Mona’s cue, their palace had shifted into this strange sight.

The colors turned to gray and the space around them had shrunk. The five of them were between ailes of seats that were filled with faceless people, watching intently at what was in front of them. The thieves looked around the room to see what was similar to a TV set. They all turned to Joker, who was focused on the lack of a Will Seed in his possession. 

“What happened here?” Panther asked as they continued to gaze around the room. 

“Did Kamoshida’s cognition change?” Ghost asked as he attempted to touch one of the people seated, his hand passing through them like air. “Wait, I thought cognition people are supposed to be tangible. What is this?”

Before anyone could speak further, the sounds of spotlight turning on caught their attention. The five turned around to see three people seated in front of a filming station. One of them, a familiar ripped mop-head. However, he carried an air of youth with him. No signs of wrinkles and skin that seemed to glow. 

“What part of the castle is this shit?” Skull asked Mona, to which he only got a shrug in response. 

“The ad is about to end!” The stage crew announced before counting down from ten. With each drop of the number, Kamoshida stirred in his seat. He kept his arms folded and his legs twitched at the countdown.

“The next segment on the show! ‘The Person I Want to Meet’!” The tv announcer said in a cheery voice that drew in viewers. “In honor of this year’s World Championship, which will be held for the first time in four years, we bring you to the captain of the men’s volleyball team‒ Mr. Suguru Kamoshida!”

“Hello… I’m Suguru Kamoshida.” He greeted with a subtly meek voice.

“That’s Kamoshida?” Skull voiced aloud, not a single person in the crowd hearing him. “He seems so… young.”

“Let’s be quiet,” Morgana whispered to the group, “I think we should pay attention to this.”

The host looked to the athlete with an impressed smile on his face, “You know, it’s not all that often you see someone gain so much traction in their first outing of their career and still retain it. How incredible are you, Kamoshida-san?”

Their guest waved off with a sheepish smile, “Oh, no no… I’m nothing special.”

“Now don’t you be so modest,” The hostess beside him laughed, “You’ve done quite a lot in your career; not only numerous advertisements but you’ve also donated plenty of money to your hometown highschool.” 

“Yeah, you don’t see the average person doing that.” The host nodded his head, their compliments caused Kamoshida to turn his head away with an awkward smirk. 

“But we've been dancing around the question for too long,” The host announced to the audience before turning back to their guest, “Kamoshida-san, in that last match of yours‒ how did it feel at that moment of victory? Can you describe it for us?” 

“Hm, how to describe it?” Kamoshida looked to the ground in thought, “I guess it was just… ‘I won! Woo!’. I was just happy, no other way to describe it.”

“What about the pressure?” The host brought up, “I’m sure your role has very taxing responsibilities.”

“Indeed. Not only do you have to take care of yourself, but your teammates as well. That’s the trait of a good leader. You have to keep your focus in the heat of it all. Though it can be exhausting for me.” 

Kamoshida let out a chuckle, "Sorry, I'm rambling… I-I'm not good with crowds like this." 

"I couldn't tell," The hostess beside him gave a smile that caught him off-guard, "When you were receiving the gold medal at the press conference, you looked like a natural- dare I say, handsome." 

The host leaned forward with a grin, "Seems you have a fan here, Mr. Kamoshida. My co-host has actually been a fan of volleyball since highschool, and she's taken a liking to you in particular." 

"O-Oh, really?" 

"I'd actually liked to ask you a bit more, when the cameras are off." The hostess tucked away a strand of her long hair behind her ear. "You don't mind, do you?" 

"Hey hey hey! What are you waiting for!" The host encouraged, "The lady asked you a question, what do you say?" 

Kamoshida turned his head away, unable to process this sudden situation. 

But once he did, the room froze. The people at the front began to dissipate in front of the thieves' eyes, as well as the crowd around them. Once it all disappeared, it revealed the same large room that they were in before. 

"What the hell was that just now?!" Skull exclaimed. "Why was Kamoshida actin' like that…?" 

Joker rubbed his head in thought before throwing out an idea, "Was that a memory?" 

"Seems like it," Morgana nodded his head. "The Will Seed must have shown it to us, and by showing it to us…" 

The five walked into the corridor, witnessing what had happened. What looked like a series of multiple branching paths, had changed into a single corridor. 

"It's helped guide us through the palace," Morgana rubbed his chin, "But there has to be more of them. If we can find all of them, the route to the treasure will reveal itself… I think." 

"There he goes with 'I think' shit again," Skull turned to Joker, "So, what do you think?" 

"May as well," He shrugged, "If it means finding the treasure sooner, then who am I to protest?" 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

After going through the castle, the five found it to be somewhat easier to navigate through. They seemed to have been running into chest more often and they were able to sneak by enemies without much trouble. And yet, there was no sign of Kamoshida’s treasure. 

Currently, they were scaling up the ivy infested walls outside the castle. The five hopped through the large window and massive room with paintings of Kamoshida above them. Amongst these self-flagellating artworks, they noticed a door covered in ivy. The thieves immediately walked through once they saw it.

“These Will Seeds kinda creep me out,” Skull said, “I mean, I get that we have to since it helps us get through the castle but… I don’t wanna see that bastard’s past.”

“I get what you mean,” Panther discontentedly nodded along, “In that memory, Kamoshida seemed so… human. I feel nothing but hatred for him but…”

“We’ll figure it all out later,” Joker reassured as he picked up the Will Seed from its podium. 

Once again, the room changed to gray. They found themselves in a high rise hotel room, where they saw Kamoshida on the floor. He looked to have been pleading to the same hostess from before, who clung onto herself in defense as she slowly stepped away from him. 

“P-please, I’m-I’m so sorry!” He bowed his head as his body trembled. “I swear, I didn’t… I just had too much to drink. I would have never!-”

“Well, you did!” She backpedaled away seeing Kamoshida get up, “I can’t believe that you’d be that kind of person to just…” 

“I beg you, don’t tell anyone about this!” He brought his hands together as he kneeled, “My career will be ruined if this comes out. I’ll be betraying my companies, my fans, I’ll have nothing left…”

The scene flashed before their eyes. Now, they saw a melancholy Kamoshida‒ sitting on the bedside, ashamed at what he had done. A man spoke to him from behind the door, asking him what had happened. To which he could only reply with a meek voice. 

“I understand,” The stern voiced man outside said, “We’ll take care of it…”

“Please, just… call the police.” Kamoshida sighed as he looked to the ground.

“Let’s not be rash,” The business man assured, “I said we’ll take care of it, don’t worry. It’ll be like this never happened.”

The memory dissolved, returning the thieves back to the castle. The five looked at each other, their faces tense at what they saw. 

“That TV woman, that was Kamoshida’s first victim.” Mona voiced his thoughts. 

“Yeah, but…” Ghost rubbed the back of his head, “He actually seemed sorry…” 

“What changed? What made him the total asshole he is now?” Skull growled and kicked the ground. 

Mona furrowed his brows in thought, “The Will Seeds are supposed to show the origin of distorted desires, and that it tells me there’s one last piece of the puzzle left.”

Joker nodded as he readjusted his gloves, “Then let’s find it.” 

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

“This is it…” Ghost said aloud as they found another ivy covered door, “It has to be, right?”

“Yeah,” Panther scowled at the thought, “I want to see it. I want to see what made Kamoshida into a monster, and what made him think that abusing all of us at Shujin was okay....”

Skull pushed past the door, and picked up the Will Seed himself. His expression sharp as he saw it dissolve, “Let’s see it, you bastard…”

The thieves found themselves in a restaurant in Shibuya, where they saw Kamoshida seated across from a well suited man. The athlete kept his gaze onto the table as he had the look of death written across his face, “I’m so sorry, what I’ve done… I’ve hurt so many people. My representatives, my fans, and her.”

“It’s okay,” The business man reassured, “We’ve already settled that matter. We already talked to her, she won’t be talking about it.”

“Huh? You mean…”

The suit smiled, “You can continue being ‘the ideal athlete’. You see, Mr. Kamoshida, our company has done well since you joined us. It's our job to keep you safe so that business keeps going, all you have to do is just play the role of sports star. Or is that too much pressure for you?”

“Not at all…”

“Well, if any other matters like this happen just make sure to discuss it with us.” The man sat up from his seat, “You deserve that much with your work ethic, no?”

“But…” 

“Just trust us,” He turned to the door, “It’s for everyone’s best interests.”

After he left, Kamoshida began to reflect on those words. “Everyone’s best interests… I deserve… Yeah… yeah, I do…”

The scene dissolved, leaving the thieves speechless at what had transpired. 

Skull scoffed with his hands in his pockets, “People like that, just create even shittier people like Kamoshida…”

“Hey Mona…” Ghost turned to the smallest of the thieves, “The castle should be more clear, right? That’s what you said?”

“Yeah,” The cat nodded its head, “We should get going, the treasure should be easy to find now.”

The four turned to Panther, who stood stiffly after witnessing those memories. She suddenly turned around, her eyes sharp as she walked towards the door. She said to them in a low voice that seeped with vexation. “Come on, let’s get that treasure…”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The five easily made their way to a dark corridor, at the end of it was a pair of large sturdy doors that seemed to have been inviting them in. Skull put an hand of the door with an excited smile on his face, "Something's tellin' me that this' the place!" 

Ryuji called forth Captain Kidd, launching a Lunge attack that forced it open for them. Behind the doors, was a large room of gold coins. The floor buried underneath it all and numerous pots of gold were filled with them. 

But what stood out in this mess of gilded material was an odd cloud. It hovered above the center of the room in chromatic colors. The thieves walked in, examining what was before them. 

“What is this thing floating here?” Panther asked as she attempted to reach out and touch it, her hand passing through it’s intangible state. 

Mona snickered as he stepped on top of a golden cup below it, “That is what we came all the way here for, the Treasure!”

“Some… weird cloud thing?” Joker asked. “Kind of underwhelming…”

“Actually, I was going to tell you more about this when we made it this far,” Mona began, “Simply finding the Treasure isn’t enough. We’ll need to make it materialize before we can steal it.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ghost lowered his eyes to meet with Mona’s. 

“Desires have no physical form by nature. Hence, we’ll first need to make the real person aware that their desires are in fact a Treasure. Once they’re conscious that their desires might be stolen, the Treasure will finally show itself.” 

Panther brushed back one of her twintails as she asked, “But how do we do that?”

“We warn them,” Mona stepped off of the cup as he continued, “Tell them, ‘We’re going to steal your heart’ by sending them a calling card. Once we do that, the treasure will appear for certain! ...I think.”

“That again?” Skull sighed before his spirits began to lighten up. “Either way, sounds like it’s worth givin’ it a shot!”

“First, we’re going to have to send him the calling card in reality. Meaning we have to leave for now.” Mona shrugged as he began walking towards the door. “Once he reads it, we  _ have  _ to snatch the Treasure on the exact day.”

Joker smirked as he curled his fingers around his chin, “Seems like a plan! Alright, let’s head back and get some rest. Then, we take Kamoshida’s heart!”

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The five snuck around the castle to head for the exit. Strangely enough, there were very few shadows roaming around. A possible result of them finding Kamoshida’s Treasure location, they figured. 

“Things went pretty smoothly,” Ghost laughed as they were about to turn the corner into the great hall. “Hopefully we can end this quickly next time.”

_ Next time?”  _ A familiar sly voice laughed once they stepped into the large room. Turning their heads to the stairs, they saw Shadow Kamoshida standing above them. Numerous guards at his side with their swords raised. The king of the castle let out another distorted laugh at the sight of the thieves.

_ “No, there won’t be a next time…” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So yeah, I brought back the Will Seed memory concept since I thought it was neat. Unfortunately for me, I’m going to have to write memories for the other palace owners‒ which will be a problem for me because I’m an unoriginal bastard but away we go…
> 
> So yeah, see you next chapter...


	15. Master Of Illusions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Oops, one big fight scene. Anyways, this is very much all original writing and none of it is taken from the game script. So take what you will with that… 
> 
> Also, I forgot to mention that Akira would also be using Persona from the Jester Arcana that I created. And the fact that I’m telling you this also gives away that some are gonna debut right now, but whatever… 
> 
> Enjoy, or not… I’m not your dad.

**Day: April 18th: Monday**

**Time: Afterschool**

**Location: Kamoshida's Castle**

* * *

The king gazed upon the intruders with an evil smile that curled to his ears. He walked to the railing, leaning forward as his guards began to crowd around them. 

_"So you lot have not only invaded my castle, damaged my belongings, and disrespected my name… you went as far as to snoop around my past_ . _"_ He listed in a vicious tone, _"Execution is too good for you. Capture them and sent the to the torture chambers!"_

Skull scoffed at his threats, hand hovering over his mask. "Please, we've kicked your ass plenty of times!" 

With a wave of his hand, Kamoshida called for his guards to attack. They all exploded into the familiar red and black mess, forming four archangels and as well one other that they haven't seen before. An anthropomorphic red fox clad in knightly attire, a sword in his hand and a thick tome attached to the side of his belt. 

_"For King Kamoshida's glory, we will punish you!"_ The fox knight announced with his sword raised. _"But… You four go first!"_

The archangels jetted towards the thieves, sending orbs of fluorescent purple towards them. The five narrowly avoided the bombardment with a sudden roll forward. Joker tore off his mask, summoning the persona Agathion. 

"Go down!" He ordered, his persona sent a Zio blast that struck one of the angels. Skull backed him up and sent one of his own, also knocking it out. 

But before they could both knock down another, they felt their bodies began sluggish and their sight weakened. This caused their shots to miss. The angels retaliated, sending Psi attacks that hit them with ease. 

_"Hahaha! Behold the great power that milord has bestowed onto me!"_ The fox shadow behind them teased after hitting them both with Sukunda. 

_"Stop hiding and get in there!"_ Kamoshida ordered, to which the shadow flinched at his harsh tone. 

_"B-But I'm more of a supporting man…"_

_"NOW!"_ At his king's orders, the shadow rushed into the fight. Arms flailing as he gripped onto his sword. 

"Alright then, let's go!" Ghost grumbled as he summoned his persona while Mona healed Joker and Skull. Despite his persona's low strength, he was confident he could take on a scaredy-cat like that shadow. 

He was wrong. As the shadow had struck his persona down with a Cleave attack. As Ghost heaved for air, the shadow began to chuckle at the rush he was feeling.

 _"Ohohoho! Now that felt good!"_ It bared its teeth as he readied an attack. With a raise of his hand, he called forth pillars of light that flowed onto each of the thieves‒ hitting them hard. _"Fall to my whim!"_

"Damn furry bastard!" Skull cursed as he summoned Captain Kidd. The pirate aimed his arm cannon to the fox that zipped around, however he was still under the effects of the Sukunda spell- causing him to miss. 

The shadow hit his persona with a Cleave attack, causing Skull to hold his chest in pain. He backpedaled to the rest of the thieves, where Joker handed him a bottle of painkillers. As Morgana summoned Zorro to create a Garu blast that disoriented the shadows. 

“Can you still fight?” Joker asked Skull, to which he immediately bobbed his head at. 

“Hell yeah, I can! One bad hit won’t knock me down!” 

Joker smiled at his friend’s tenacity, “Well alright then, I need you to take care of those Archangels. Panther, Mona, that fox shadow seems to be the boss of this fight‒ So I need to be backed up while I’m trying to find its weakness. And Ghost, help Skull take down those angels‒ I know you can’t use electricity spells but make sure Skull’s tough enough to take down four of them.”

With those orders, they headed off into position. Though Ghost was a bit hesitant with his role, as all he would be doing is support‒ as if he were a footnote in the plan, the team in general… But this wasn’t the time for moaning, he had to fill his role right now! 

With a couple tosses of smoke bombs, the team were to disorient the shadows further‒ splitting off into groups. Ghost immediately summoned his persona and casted a Rakukaja spell that kept Skull’s defenses up as he took on four Archangels. Meanwhile, Joker called faced off the fox knight with Panther and Mona at his side.

“Come! Jack!” He shouted as he tore off his mask. The persona he summoned was a pale faced boy in simple village clothing and large brimmed hat upon his head. He sat upon a large beanstalk with his feet dangling, in his hands was a drawstring bag. 

The boy opened it up and casted a spell from it, using Sukunda on the fox shadow. And then tossed a single bean that hit him with a Bufu spell, which covered him in a blanket of ice. 

“Time for a nap, big guy!” Panther called out as she followed up with a Dormina spell. Bubbles floated around the larger shadow, causing it to nod off into sleep.

“Zorro! Follow up!” Mona called forth his burly persona to summon sharp gales that struck the fox shadow. 

After its rude awakening, the large shadow let out a growl as it raised its blade. Behind him was his king, spitting at the weak results he’s given out so far. The shadow shook with anger as it stared down its enemies, it let out roar as a red aura sparked from its body. The violently shook the room with its voice as it seethed with impatient anger. 

_“Damn thieves! Die! Die! Die!”_ It screeched as it sent out slashes of light towards the five. 

Due to their close proximity‒ Joker, Mona, and Panther were sent to the ground with a direct hit. Ghost and Skull quickly jumped at the sight of the attack. Ghost avoided it however Skull was unlucky due to his fatigue after killing all of the archangels. 

The king laughed as he saw Ghost kneeling before his knocked down allies. He had no means of healing them in this state, so he was left panicking as he tried to help their two healers stand up. Kamoshida walked down from the staircase to stand above the five intruders. He looked down to Ghost with his signature shit-eating grin.

 _“Now isn’t this just funny, Watanabe…”_ He laughed as he saw him tremor beneath him. _“I knew you were always the high energy type, but I thought you would have thrown in the towel sooner…”_

“What…?” Kyotaro muttered as the king moved over to Akira, planting a foot on his back.

 _“Let’s face it, kid. Whenever I looked at you funny, you were always on the verge of pissing yourself.”_ Kamoshida amusedly said, _“I would have assumed you would have fallen in line with the other slaves, be a sponsor for the volleyball team with that uncle’s of yours back account, and join me as like… a squire or something. But no… You had to associate with these lot.”_

Kyotaro was left speechless as Kamoshida continued, digging his foot onto Akira’s back. _“...Trash that won’t stay in the gutter. I could have given you something in that… pathetic little life of yours. The attention you so wanted, those little pranks of yours were just desperate calls for some spotlight on you. It’s honestly sad…”_

“S-Shut… _Shut up..._ ” He said in a barely audible voice. 

_“Oh? Still can’t say anything?”_ Kamoshida pointed an ear to him in amusement, _“Yeah, no matter what clothes you're wearing or whatever scum you hang around. You’ll always be a pest that hides away when things get dangerous.”_

Kyotaro wanted to punch him, no… he wanted to gut him. But no matter how angry he felt, he was right… He was just a coward that hid away when things got too much. Despite those smiles and jokes, he was just a fucking coward! He let them down… Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, Akira. 

He let them down because he was too weak to do anything…

“Shut… Shut up!” Akira shouted, “Kyotaro, don’t listen to what he’s saying. Ever since I got here, you’ve been behind me no matter what situation. You didn’t benefit from it, but you did it. If that isn’t brave then‒ Kgh!”

Kamoshida stomped on his back as he spat in disgust, _“Enough of the cheesy speeches. And you Watanabe, why don’t you just run on home‒”_

“Shut up… And let go my friends… Or I’ll rip you apart!” Tension began to grow in the air as Kyotaro seethed out. Everyone in the room turned to him, raising his head with sharp eyes.

His once blank white eyes, now burning with a sickly gold.

**...**

**_“Hehehe... Hahahaha.. Now I see you.”_** Kyotaro’s head convulsed to the side as if a bullet had passed through it. He began to move closer to Kamoshida, who slowly back pedaled in response. Kyotaro’s hand went for his mask as he moved forward like a broken puppet. **_“You finally have found your drive. Moving past acts such as hiding away from tyrants such as he.”_**

With a painful tear, Kyotaro tossed off his mask. Blood seeped from his visage, yet he uttered no sign of pain. Kamoshida hobbled away at the sight of it, his fellow thieves began to pick themselves up as they saw Kyotaro’s mysterious persona emerge. The black flames surrounding it shifted to a brilliant blue, its chains whipping like serpents.

**_“Now… Let’s finally forge our contract,”_** From his persona’s head, arose two large eyes that burned with an orange glow. Kyotaro grabbed onto one of the chains, his face blank as he looked to Kamoshida. **_“I am thou, thou art I! Let no chain‒ No Hell, bind thou! Call thine name, and unleash thy inner strength!”_**

“You got it…” Before Kyotaro pulled the chain to snap it loose, he called out with all the energy in his voice. “Come! SCARAMOUCHE!”

His persona exploded into a pillar of blue flame, absorbing him in its blast. From these flames, peeked out an ivory white face with large orange eyes that had purple paint outlining it. The creature swiped away the flames, revealing it’s lanky form along with Kyotaro before it. 

The persona, Scaramouche, was a tall figure with a resemblance to a clown. Its outfit was predominantly white with black stripes. It had pleated collars around it’s wrists and neck. From the back of its head was a large tuft of coiffed light black hair that had a faint resemblance to devil horns.

“His persona changed!” Panther gaped as she saw Kyotaro’s gangly spirit. 

Morgana shook his head at that, “No, it didn’t change… This is it’s true form!”

**_“I am the Master of Illusions‒ Scaramouche!”_** It announced in an echoey voice, **_“As decreed by my user, I will defend his companions no matter what challenge is before me!”_**

Kamoshida jumped backwards, looking to his last guard captain. The fox shadow cowering after seeing the display. He shouted, _"What are you standing there for?! Kill him!"_

The fox nodded as it gripped its blade, _"W-Well, I will gladly fight any challenge for my king!"_

Kyotaro gave an unimpressed sniff at the sight of it, "Well, we're in for a real battle. Let's go, Scaramouche!" 

The shadow made an attempt to Cleave its head, only for the persona to swipe away at its hilt and countered. Scaramouche raised its legs and attacked with Lunge, sending the shadow slamming against the wall. 

"Man, that rocks!" Skull cheered after seeing that bout. 

"It's not staying down though," Morgana interjected as he saw the shadow pick itself up. The cat quickly called forth Zorro, healing the other four thieves. "Let's help kill that thing before it goes super again." 

"Right! Here's something to help!" Skull rushed over to Ghost's side, summoning his own Persona. The pirate zapped the shadow with a blast before calling forth a Tarukaja spell that strengthened his friend's power. 

"Thanks!" Ghost rubbed his nose before commanding his persona once more. "Hey, Panther! Get ready!" 

Scaramouche grabbed the shadow by the face, slammed it back against the wall, and dragged it across its bricked surface with the added strength boost. With a snap toss, Ghost chucked it towards Panther's direction in a parabola.

"Alright!" She cheered as she called forth Carmen, her persona launched a spark of fire that caused the shadow to violently convulse in midair. The fox knight began to fall. Panther calling out, "Mona, your turn!" 

"You got it, Lady Ann!" Zorro emerged with his sword gripped. He drew out green bursts of air that rocketed the shadow in an upward arc once more. "Joker, go!" 

"Ravage them, Arsene!" Joker's persona flexed its wings as it sent an Eiha attack, blasting the shadow with streams of dark energy. 

The shadow collapsed onto the ground, its form still intact even after the smack down it had received. Fumes rose from its body as it stared down the thieves. Its voice returning to its threatening tone, _"No more playing… Time to DIE!"_

The shadow bursted with red energy, infusing itself with the same power as before. The thieves braced themselves as it stared them down. 

"Joker! When you hit it with a Curse spell, it seemed to have done the most damage!" Morgana called out, Joker nodding in response. 

"Got it! Arsene!" Joker attempted to call his persona once more, only to be met with nothing. He widened in shock, realizing what happened. "Damn it! I'm out of energy!" 

"Yeah, me too…" Panther admitted, noticing her sluggishness. "Exploring the palace must have been too exhausting for us!" 

With that opportunity available, the shadow rushed in. Its sword raised its blade to strike down the thieves. But before it could bring it down, Ghost called his persona once more to catch it. 

"Grgh… Huh, didn't think that would work." He gave strained laughter as he attempted to wrestle the blade out of the shadows grip. It seemed that Scaramouche was still too weak to be able to pull something like that off. He turned to his friends, "Guys? A little help?" 

Immediately, the four of them began unloading bullets onto the shadow. The fox knight began swatting them away like bees, backpedaling as they emptied their guns. 

"Damn! This guy's tough!" Skull groaned after seeing it witness it go through hell yet still walk. 

"No doubt, us seeing Kamoshida's memories must have affected it." Morgana clenched his tiny paw. "And no one else can use Curse spells…" 

"Just stay behind me!" Ghost shouted, "I haven't been much in a fight so far, so let me make it up to you! I'll throw everything I have at this bastard!" 

As Ghost stared down the shadow, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to his side to see Joker, giving a proud smile as he nodded his head. "You got this…" 

Ghost blinked in slight surprise before nodding in gratitude for the support. With his friends by his side, he couldn't let them down. 

But as he turned to face his opponent once more, he noticed how the world around him began to change. His vision blurred as his sight dulled in color, turning to a faintly gray. 

During this strange scene playing out before him, a light began to grow before him. Once it formed, it revealed itself to be a familiar looking mask. A white domino mask with a bird design and back accents. It was Akira's mask… 

It gravitated towards him, Kyotaro instinctively grabbed it. As he held onto it, something he heard before had rang in his mind. 

_That is the result of your special ability known as 'The Doppelganger'. A skill similar to your companion's, known as 'The Wildcard'._

This was his power… The power of The Doppelganger.

"What the‒" Ghost turned to see Joker's reaction once he realized what was in his hands. "When… How...?" 

He simply smirked in response, walking forward as he held near his face. "I'm borrowing this… Scaramouche! Paradigm Shift!" 

His persona exuded a burst of tension once Ghost placed the copy of Joker's mask against his face‒ causing it to explode into flames. Scaramouche hovered in the air as swirls of blue embers began to absorb him. After it fully enveloped him, the Persona swatted away the fire and revealed its new form. 

Scaramouche's once ivory face, became an light ebony that highlighted its glowing eyes that burned with a gold. The paint on its face changed to scarlet. It retained its black stripes while its predominantly white body had been changed to red. 

"Alright, this is where we end it!" Ghost roared. 

The thieves were stunned at their teammate's persona.

"No way!" Skull exclaimed, "He can change personas too?! How's that fair?!" 

Mona shook his head, still keeping his sight on what was before him. "No… He doesn't have multiple personas… His persona changed arcanas!" 

Panther followed that line of thought, "Yeah! And now he looks kinda like Arsene…" 

Joker looked back to Ghost. Initially stunned at his ability, but now he grinned at the strength he carried with him. "Send it home, partner." 

"You got it!" Ghost snapped his fingers, calling for Scaramouche to go on the attack. "Ravage them! Eiha!" 

The shadow charged forth once again, readying a Cleave attack. Its body faltered in its final rush. Scaramouche opened his palms, building up Curse energy as it stared down its charging opponent. The two collided; the shadow narrowly missed Scaramouche's neck while the clown went in for the kill. 

One hand sent out a blast through its chest, the other gripped onto its face. And with its already weakened state, the fox knight dissipated away. 

Ghost let out heavy breaths after everything that's happened. The palace exploration, his Persona revealing itself, and that power he showed off. He looked up to Scaramouche, floating above him as he was joined by his friends. His persona lowered itself, disappearing once it drew close to him. His mask returned on his face after it did. 

"Man, you kicked some serious ass!" Skull patted Ghost on the back. "You killed it like a badass!" 

"Thanks man, but I just finished it off after you guys weakened it." Ghost nodded with very little movement. His eyes looked around the room with no sign of the king. "Where… where did Kamoshida go? Aw, man… Did he tail it again?" 

"Lets not worry about that now." Joker reassured as he began leading to the door, "We should head back."

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

"Man… Even in the real world, I'm still tired." Ryuji sighed as he stretched out his strained arms. 

"Let's just head home for today," Akira recommended, "We'll discuss what to do next, tomorrow. Everyone seems waaay too tired to function properly, and I honestly just want to sleep…" 

"Yeah, I get you." Kyotaro nodded along as he felt a pain in his stomach, "Urgh, man… Is awakening your Persona supposed to make you hungry because my stomach is tearing me from the inside out." 

Ryuji stepped up, "Hey then how about we head out to grab some food? My treat… is what I would say if I had enough cash…" 

"I'll pass," Ann yawned, "I just want to head home and take a bath." 

"Yeah, I get the feeling." Akira nodded in agreement. 

Kyotaro shrugged as Ryuji bumped his fist, "Well, I am hungry and happen to have my wallet on me. So why not?" 

"Sweet! I got a special place in my mind!" Ryuji grinned in excitement. 

"...It's the beef bowl shop, isn't‒"

"‒Yeah, it's the beef bowl shop."

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

The two were in the midst of inhaling the food, discussing today's matters during a very busy hour of the shop. 

"Sho, Mm… That power allows you to copy other arcanas?" Ryuji asked in between bites. "Man, so how powerful did you feel using Akira's?"

"Not much," Kyotaro shrugged. "It didn't feel like I was getting that much stronger, It did feel different that much for certain." 

Ryuji took a large gulp before continuing to gush, "But man, imagine if all of us could change our Persona? Kamoshida would have been screwed over already. I'm kinda jealous of you and Akira." 

"Why me?" Kyotaro asked, "Dude, you've been kicking ass since you got your Persona. I got mine before you and it took me until now to contribute something to the team." 

"Nah, don't go beatin' yourself up." Ryuji shook his head, "You can be kinda annoyin' sometimes but you ain't bringin' anyone down. Hell, you just might be one of our strongest members now!" 

"Thanks… I guess," Kyotaro tried his best to ignore that last part. Still, he was grateful for his kind words. "Hey… Back in the castle, when we saw Kamoshida's memories, what do you think of it? You're not discouraged or anything?" 

Ryuji scoffed, "Don't care if he was a decent person at some point. Because all he's done is ruin people's lives, not us ours but everyone at Shujin. If anything, seeing all that just makes me even more raring to get him." 

"Good," Kyotaro smiled at his determination. He let out a chuckle seeing Ryuji Sakamoto, a guy who wanted to clock him in the First year‒ be so open with him. "I would have never thought that we'd be talking like this as… well." 

"Friends?" Ryuji threw out with a grin. 

"Yeah, friends…"

* * *

**I am Thou, Thou Art I...**

**Thou hast opened thine heart to a fellow outcast seeking to free thy selves from captivity**

**Let thy comrade’s mask be a wellspring of strength and guidance**

**And thou shall serve as a guardian for thine comrades in return**

**With the advent of the Chariot Arcana,**

**I have obtained a new power that will breaketh thy chains and will lead to tranquility**

* * *

_The Chariot… Ryuji has lent me his power._

"Hey, I'll be relyin' on you a lot more when we head back in." Ryuji pointed to him, a grin still on his face. "If you're usin' our powers, then you can at least take a bit more of workload." 

Kyotaro thought for a moment, before nodding his head in acceptance. "Fair enough, I'll bring my A game next time then." 

"Good to hear," Ryuji said before looking out the window to see the sun waning. "Man, dark already?! Uh, let's hurry up and eat! I don't wanna be out too late." 

With that, the two rapidly tossed steak and rice in their mouth before heading home. Where they waited for their next move.

* * *

**TAKE YOUR TIME**

* * *

_Well done, you have fully awakened your persona and have discovered the power of the Doppelganger. Thus you march on with your journey. But… There is still much for you to grow._

Thanks and all, but what exactly were those weird things that popped into my mind? 

_Those are the bonds that you build with your fellow rebels. The power of the Doppelganger relies on such bonds, using forms similar to their personas. And by building these bonds, does your own persona grow in strength._

I see… But that feels like an artificial friendship…

_No, not quite. You see, your power can not draw on such a selfish nature. As your fellow rebels open their hearts to you, you open your heart to them in return. It is by no means a false relationship._

If that is the case, then I’m glad. 

_Well, it would seem my time with you is over for now. I can no longer be with you on this journey, as I have taught you all you need to know. Establish new bonds with your fellow rebels, then may they guide you to your destination. May we meet again, in the coming future…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The two new Personas are Jack, named after Jack and The Beanstalk, and Reynard, named after Reynard The Fox. I honestly didn't put much effort in incorporating their history into the Persona design so don't expect anything deeper in my shallow research of wikipedia. 
> 
> You'll be seeing more of the Jester Arcana soon, that much I can say.
> 
> As for Kyotaro's persona, I had juggled between several decisions when I first created the story. Until I landed on Scaramouche‒ because I was just really into Bohemian Rhapsody at the time. But I think it works well for Kyotaro. Sorry it took so long it get here
> 
> The power of the Doppelganger came to me when I gave Kyotaro the Jester Arcana. I didn't want to give him the Wild Card since that seemed like an easy choice, but I wanted his powers to have something more than the standard. 
> 
> As for the Doppelganger's implementation, let me explain‒ When copying an arcana, Kyotaro won't be stronger than the original Persona. His moveset will change to one similar to that of say Captain Kidd along with his stats. But he won't have Zionga while Kidd has Zio and he won’t be as physically strong as Ryuji. Lucky for me, I'm not making a game so I don't have to worry about balancing too much! Woo!
> 
> As for the Red shadow thing, I needed an excuse to drag out the fight so that Kyotaro could showcase his power. I'll try not to have him overtake the spotlight unless it's important for his character. And because of my choice, I'll be incorporating Red Shadows into my story. So I hope you're looking forward to that. 
> 
> Sorry for the ramble, just had to make sure there wasn't confusion.


End file.
